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CHARLES   E.  BOLTON 

BY    HIS   WIFE 

SARAH  K.  BOLTON 


CAMBRIDGE 

THE    UNIVERSITY    PRESS 

1907 


PREFACE 

No  written  word  could  adequately  portray  the 
character  and  influence  of  one  whose  high  ideals 
were  a  part  of  his  daily  life.  Mr.  Bolton  was 
widely  known  and  loved.  He  was  pre-eminently 
a  man  of  happy  spirit  who  seemed  to  brighten 
every  life  he  touched.  It  is  hoped  that  his 
friends,  by  reading  this  sketch,  will  like  to  recall 
his  warm  heart,  his  buoyant  and  joyous  nature, 
his  energy,  and  his  desire  to  increase  the  happi- 
ness and  helpfulness  of  those  about  him. 

S.  K.  B. 

Cleveland,    i  906. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Charles  E.  Bolton.     Photogravure  from  a  pho 
tograph  taken  by  J.  F.  Ryder  about  1888 

Mr.  Bolton  as  a  boy  of  ten.     From  a  daguer 
reotype 

At  eighteen.     From  an  ambrotype 

Mr.  Bolton  on  leaving  college.      From  a  photo 
graph  by  J.  L.  Lovell,  Amherst,  1865 

Mrs.  Bolton  in  1 866.      By  J.  F.  Ryder 

The  Home,  Elm-Oak,  East  Cleveland     .      . 

Group,  in  the  Grounds.       From  a  photograph 
taken  in  1901  by  a  friend,  Mr.  Charles  A.  Post 

Plan  for  Lake  Front  Improvements     .      .      .      . 

Mr.  Bolton  in  1 899.     By  the  Ryder  Studio     . 


Frontispiece 

Facing  page  8 
8 

28 
28 
70 

72 

84 

no 


CHARLES  E.  BOLTON 

Charles  Edward  Bolton,  born  May  i6, 
1841,  at  South  Hadley  Falls,  Massachusetts,  was 
descended  from  a  worthy  line  of  ancestors.  His 
great-grandfather,  Timothy  Bolton,  served  in 
the  Revolutionary  War,  as  did  also  Timothy's 
brothers,  Sergeant  William,  Corporal  Ebenezer, 
and  Captain  Aaron  Bolton.  They  were  grand- 
sons of  William  Bolton  who  came  to  New  Eng- 
land in  the  summer  of  1718  with  Scotch  and 
English  settlers  from  the  vicinity  of  Coleraine 
in  the  north  of  Ireland ;  the  family  had  come 
originally  from  central  Lancashire  in  England. 
On  the  first  call  to  arms,  April  19,  1775,  Timothy, 
a  lad  not  yet  sixteen,  marched  with  others  from 
the  village  green  in  Shirley,  Massachusetts,  to 
the  camp  at  Cambridge ;  he  was  at  the  siege  of 
Boston,  the   taking  of  Burgoyne,  the   battle  of 

[I] 


CHARLES   E.  BOLTON 

Long  Island,  and  at  Valley  Forge.  Mr.  Bolton's 
mother,  Manila  Ingram,  a  woman  of  unusual 
nobility  of  character,  was  the  daughter  of  John 
Ingram  of  Amherst,  and  was  married  to  James 
King  Bolton  in  1837.  The  Wolcotts,  Blisses, 
Chapins,  and  other  well-known  New  England 
families  were  among   Mr.  Bolton's  ancestors. 

The  life  of  a  New  England  boy,  bright,  active, 
fun-loving,  industrious,  earning  a  little  money  by 
picking  berries  or  raising  chickens,  living  near 
the  banks  of  the  Connecticut  River  and  loving 
its  waters,  making  boats  and  water-wheels  or 
romping  in  his  brief  leisure  with  his  only  brother 
John  and  his  dog  Ponto,  —  such  a  life  had  much 
of  strength  in  its  simplicity  and  economy,  and 
was  a  good  preparatory  school  for  future  useful- 
ness. Years  after  he  used  to  tell  how  he  was 
cured  of  a  desire  to  stay  away  from  school  for 
play.  He  complained  to  his  mother  of  headache, 
which  was  doubtless  true,  and  she  prepared  and 
insisted  on  his  drinking  a  large  bowl  of  thor- 
oughwort  tea.  After  this  he  preferred  to  go 
to  school. 

[2] 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

In  his  autobiography,  written  at  the  request 
of  his  wife  and  son,  a  short  time  before  his 
death,  he  says  of  these  early  years :  "  A  valuable 
object  lesson  of  my  boyhood  days  was  the  con- 
struction of  great  dams  for  mill  purposes  across 
the  Connecticut  River  between  South  Hadley 
Falls  and  Holyoke.  Though  only  seven  years 
old,  my  father  often  took  me  to  see  one  dam 
while  it  was  being  built.  After  the  building  of 
the  Connecticut  River  Railway,  the  development 
of  factories  at  the  Falls  became  profitable. 

"In  the  winter  of  1848,  work  on  the  first 
dam  was  begun  and  several  hundred  men  were 
employed,  each  at  eighty  cents  per  day.  An  at- 
tempt to  lower  the  wages  to  seventy  cents  was 
met  by  an  ugly  strike,  and  Philander  Anderson, 
chief  engineer,  the  constable,  and  others  were  se- 
riously injured.  The  authorities  responded  with 
a  military  force  and  the  leading  rioters  were 
arrested  and  punished.  In  the  summer,  nearly 
thirteen  hundred  men  were  employed,  and  in 
five  months  one  of  the  largest  dams  in  the  world 
was  completed.     It  had  been  built  of  timbers  and 

[3] 


CHARLES   E.   BOLTON 

planks,  fastened  together,  and  the  whole  bolted 
to  the  bed-rock.  It  was  thirty  feet  high  and  over 
a  thousand  feet  in  length.  The  building  of  this 
huge  dam  had  been  the  talk  of  all  New  England, 
and  its  failure  or  success  was  the  question  of  the 
day. 

"On  November  i6,  1848,  thousands  of  peo- 
ple lined  the  banks  to  witness  the  closing  of  the 
many  gates  at  10  a.  m. 

"As  the  pent-up  waters,  whose  right  to  flow 
freely  to  the  Sound  had  never  before  been  ques- 
tioned, began  to  rise,  the  dam  commenced  to 
leak  badly.  Brush  and  gravel  were  thrown  in  to 
stop  the  leak,  but  as  the  water  rose  higher  and 
higher,  and  finally  reached  within  a  few  feet  of  the 
top  of  the  dam,  the  strain  was  so  great  that  it 
was  evident  that  the  structure  must  give  way. 
All  the  people  who  stood  on  the  dam  and  in 
the  dry  river  bed  below  were  warned  to  flee  to 
the  banks,  and  fortunately  they  obeyed  with 
alacrity. 

''  I  remember  running  as  fast  as  my  bare  feet 
could  carry  me,  and  had  just  reached  the  high 

[4] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

bank,  when  a  little  after  three  o'clock  a  cry  went 
up  from  the  multitude,  '  There  she  goes !  * 
*  We  told  you  so  ! '  The  dam  turned  over  and 
the  Connecticut  River  was  again  master  of  itself. 

"The  scene  was  frightful.  The  imprisoned 
waters  rushed  over  the  rocky  falls  below,  sweep- 
ing before  it  huge  portions  of  the  wrecked  dam, 
a  long  summer's  labor  of  engineers  and  a  thou- 
sand men,  the  pride  of  contractors  and  owners, 
in  the  very  hour  of  seeming  triumph." 

Farther  on  he  writes  :  "  I  recall  a  big  umbrella 
elm  on  the  way  to  school,  which  the  selectmen 
voted  must  be  cut  down,  and  how  I  pleaded 
with  the  axemen  to  spare  the  tree,  a  friend  to 
everybody,  but  my  earnest  words  did  no  good, 
and  the  veteran  shade  tree  fell. 

"  Mr.  C.  L.  Bugbee  kept  a  tavern  at  the  Falls, 
and  father  and  he  became  great  friends.  They 
often  chatted  about  business.  It  was  finally 
agreed  that  the  two  men  should  form  a  partner- 
ship in  paper-making,  and  so  they  built  a  paper 
mill  at  Bondsville,  a  few  miles  north  of  Palmer, 
Massachusetts.     When  we  moved,  we  took  with 

[5] 


CHARLES   E.   BOLTON 

us  our  spotted  dog  Ponto.  We  lived  in  a 
pretty  white  house  situated  on  a  hill  overlooking 
the  village.  The  new  mill  was  in  sight  across 
the  Thorndike  River,  and  father  and  Mr.  Bug- 
bee  worked  hard  to  succeed. 

"  While  at  Bondsville,  I  attended  a  red  school- 
house  that  stood  down  near  a  large  lily  pond. 
In  the  fall  term  the  teacher  forbade  the  children 
to  eat  chestnuts  in  school,  but  some  disobeyed. 
If  we  were  caught,  as  penalty  we  forfeited  all  the 
chestnuts  in  our  pockets. 

"  One  day  I  filled  all  my  pockets  with  chest- 
nuts—  boys  always  have  more  pockets  than 
girls  —  and,  after  school  began,  I  deliberately 
commenced  eating  them,  and  was  soon  caught  in 
the  act.  The  nuts  were  demanded,  and  it  was 
real  fun,  as  the  teacher  held  out  her  hand,  to  fill 
it  slowly.  She  would  ask,  'Have  you  more?' 
'  Yes,*  I  said ;  and  finally  she  added,  sharply, 
'  Come,  boy,  be  quick,  and  give  me  all  the 
chestnuts  you  have.'  I  filled  both  her  hands  ; 
the  teacher  then  put  the  nuts  into  her  desk 
and    returned    to    know    if   I  had   more.     *  Oh, 

[6] 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

yes/  I  said,  Mots  of  them.'  So  she  marched 
me  up  to  the  desk,  the  whole  school  laughing, 
and  made  me  quickly  empty  every  pocket.  We 
all  liked  our  teacher,  and  risked  our  lives  gather- 
ing for  her  the  beautiful  white  lilies  in  the  pond 
near  by." 

He  once  thought  of  becoming  a  farmer.  Of 
this  he  writes  :  "  I  started  to  learn  farming  with 
a  Mr.  WilHams.  I  guided  a  pair  of  horses  with 
a  harrow  round  a  large  plowed  field,  lapping  the 
implement,  it  seemed  a  million  times,  so  weary 
and  hungry  I  became  before  dinner  time.  Dur- 
ing the  nooning  Mr.  Williams  desired  me  to 
turn  a  grindstone,  while  several  of  his  hired  men 
sharpened  their  dull  scythes.  After  dinner  it  was 
tramp,  tramp  again  in  clouds  of  dust  in  the  same 
big  plowed  field  till  six  o'clock.  After  supper,  I 
walked  a  mile  to  drive  home  the  cows,  and  the 
farmer  was  surprised  that  I  had  never  learned  to 
milk,  so  he  set  me  raking  wet  grass  in  the 
orchard  till  the  moon  shone  over  the  hills. 

"  Long  before  the  sun  set  that  day  I  felt  that  I 
had  done  farming  enough  for  a  lifetime,  and  I 

[7] 


CHARLES   E.  BOLTON 

went  home  that  night  with  the  hardest-earned 
half-dollar  I  ever  possessed.  I  still  enjoy  farm- 
ing, but  always  from  a  car  window." 

At  fourteen  years  of  age,  the  family  having 
returned  to  South  Hadley  Falls,  the  boy  learned 
the  trade  of  making  fine  writing-paper.  He 
went  to  the  mill  every  morning  in  the  winter's 
snow  or  summer's  heat  at  five  o'clock,  and 
worked  until  8.30  a.  m.,  the  hour  for  the  open- 
ing of  the  High  School,  and  all  day  on  Satur- 
days. He  often  learned  his  Latin,  which  was 
copied  on  bits  of  paper,  while  he  stamped  or 
sealed  up  papers.  A  small  amount  of  money  was 
used  to  buy  an  accordion,  whose  music  should 
brighten  these  days  of  toil,  and  this  he  carefully 
kept  through  life.  "  Perhaps  my  studious  hab- 
its," he  once  said,  "  led  the  teacher  to  overesti- 
mate my  good  qualities,  for  I  now  and  then 
improved  an  opportunity  to  play  or  enjoy  a  prac- 
tical joke.  One  bright,  warm  day  the  teacher 
asked  me  to  go  out  and  cut  some  sticks,  with 
which  she  could  whip  bad  boys.  I  was  gone  an 
hour,  and  returned  with  as  big  a  bundle  of  sticks 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

as  I  could  carry.  Of  course  the  whole  school 
laughed  as  I  entered  with  a  Bunyan  load  on  my 
back,  the  teacher  saying,  ^  Thank  you,  Charles, 
these  sticks  are  just  what  I  need ;  take  care  now 
that  you  do  not  get  punished  with  these  very 
sticks/  Sure  enough,  later  I  was  whipped  with 
sticks  of  my  own  cutting." 

When  through  the  High  School,  he  had  saved 
four  hundred  dollars  with  which  to  fit  himself 
for  college.  There  had  been  few  play  days  and 
few  vacations,  but  courage  to  face  the  battle  of 
life,  and  overcome,  had  been  developed  and  had 
won  its  reward. 

Mr.  Bolton  often  said  in  after  years  that 
learning  a  trade  had  made  him  independent  for 
life,  for  if  necessary  he  could  always  support  his 
family  by  paper-making.  His  father,  James,  a 
man  of  thrift  and  some  means,  wished  his  son's 
help  when  he  built  the  paper-mill,  and  the  owner 
of  the  mill  where  he  then  worked  offered  a  place 
in  his  ofBce,  but  the  lad,  fond  of  books,  wisely 
chose  to  go  on  with  his  education. 

Years  afterward,  when  his  High  School  teacher, 
[9] 


V. 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

Mr.  George  Brooks  of  Philadelphia,  had  become 
an  old  man,  Mr.  Bolton  suggested  and  helped  to 
call  together  in  a  delightful  reunion  at  South 
Hadley  Falls  the  school  girls  and  boys  of  those 
early  days,  to  honor  the  firm  but  kind  master 
who  had  given  some  of  the  best  years  of  his  life 
to  them. 

Mr.  Bolton  joined  the  Congregational  Church 
when  he  was  seventeen.  He  prepared  for  college 
at  Sanbornton  Bridge,  now  Tilton,  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  at  Williston  Seminary,  Easthampton, 
Massachusetts,  entering  Amherst  College  in  the 
autumn  of  1861.  Concerning  this,  he  wrote: 
"  The  colored  janitor  at  Amherst  opened  the 
door  of  a  recitation-room  on  the  right,  and  a 
thin,  bent  form  shuffled  into  a  seat  behind  the 
desk.  Our  names  were  taken,  and  each  young 
man  was  called  in  turn  to  sit  near  Professor  Wil- 
liam S.  Tyler,  who  proceeded  to  discover  what  we 
knew  of  Greek.  Daniel  Webster  enjoyed  most, 
it  is  said,  the  frequent  repetitions  he  found  in 
Virgil  and  Homer.  One  cannot  easily  forget 
Professor  Tyler's  kindness  of  manner.     His  arm 

[10] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

naturally  fell  upon  the  back  of  my  chair,  and  he 
turned  the  pages  of  the  text-book  till  a  passage 
familiar  to  me  was  reached  ;  the  professor  then  said 
in  a  fatherly  way,  '  Bolton,  can  you  read  this  ?  * 
I  hesitated  somewhat  in  the  translation,  and  in 
my  answers.  Then  he  added,  '  Well  done,  but 
here  is  an  easier  place,  you  can  surely  read  this/ 
An  easy  place  was  just  what  I  was  praying  for, 
and  now,  aided  by  luck  and  encouraged  by  kind 
words,  I  surprised  myself,  and  returned  to  my 
seat  in  triumph.  In  this  way.  Professor  Tyler 
at  the  outset  captured  our  hearts  and  held  them 
loyal  for  four  years." 

Mr.  Bolton  always  kept  a  picture  of  Professor 
Tyler,  framed,  in  his  home.     He  continues : 

"  Next  morning,  after  the  examination,  father 
was  glad  to  see  me,  but  he  was  very  reticent. 
Up  on  mother's  pantry  shelf  a  few  dollars  were 
always  kept  in  a  small  box  for  an  emergency, 
and  out  of  this  reserve  fund  mother  advanced  me 
ten  dollars.  With  half  of  the  sum  I  purchased  a 
silk  hat,  much  to  her  surprise.  Thus  equipped,  I 
went  to  Bondsville,  in  Palmer,  to  see  father's  old 

[II] 


CHARLES   E.  BOLTON 

partner,  Mr.  Calvin  L.  Bugbee,  who  was  Chair- 
man of  the  School  Committee. 

"  Mr.  Bugbee  was  a  kind-hearted  man  and 
was  inclined  to  aid  me.  He  said  earnestly, 
'  Charlie,  I  desire  to  help  you,  but  we  have 
been  much  opposed  in  building  our  new  and 
graded  school.  If  I  hire  you,  who  have  never 
taught,  and  you  should  fail,  the  citizens  would 
never  forgive  me.  My  reply  was,  ^  Mr.  Bug- 
bee,  please  try  me.  I  cannot  fail,  for  it  means 
for  me  bread  and  butter,  and  an  education.' 
'  Well,  young  man,'  he  said,  ^  your  earnestness 
wins.  You  shall  have  the  large  schoolroom. 
The  pay  is  twenty-five  dollars  per  month 
and  you  can  board  at  my  home.'  That  was 
a  triumph,  indeed,  and  mother  rejoiced  with 
me  on  my  return.  Of  course,  I  did  not  forget 
to  say,  '  Mother,  did  it  not  pay  to  buy  the  silk 
hat?' 

"  Firmness  and  kindness,  and  faithful  work 
made  the  Bondsville  winter  school  a  success,  but 
I  earned  every  dollar  that  I  received." 

In  college  he  helped  to  pay  his  expenses  by 

[12] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

caring  for  the  college  chapel,  taking  charge  of  the 
college  bookstore,  and  by  teaching  school. 

"  To  keep  up  with  the  college  class,"  he  said, 
"  and  teach  daily  sixty  restless  boys  and  girls  for 
six  hours  was  not  an  easy  task.  My  rule  was 
to  rise  at  five  o'clock,  wash  my  face  and  hands 
under  the  starlight  in  running  water  near  the 
house,  in  severe  weather  breaking  the  ice.  This 
cold  water  roused  me  mentally.  Then  I  could 
learn  a  Greek  lesson  before  breakfast,  which  was 
always  ready  at  six  o'clock.  Then  more  study 
before  eight  o'clock,  for  I  was  due  at  the  school 
by  half-past  eight." 

The  gymnasium  of  the  college  was  a  great 
delight  and  benefit.  "  We  used  wood  and  iron 
dumb-bells,  or  poles  in  light  and  rhythmic  mo- 
tions to  music,"  he  writes,  "  till  the  glow  of  fresh 
blood  was  in  all  our  faces.  Then  in  charge  of 
class  lieutenants,  we  were  given  various  other  ex- 
ercises. Vigorous  work  was  sometimes  had  by 
the  whole  class  running  twenty-five  times,  more 
or  less,  round  the  gymnasium,  till  a  mile  or  more 
was  lapped,  and  often  we  yelled  like  Confeder- 

[13] 


CHARLES    E.    BOLTON 

ates,  disturbing  the  neighbors,  I  fear.  Dr. 
Hitchcock  never  objected,  and  frequently  we 
sang  songs  or  danced,  the  whole  an  escape  valve, 
he  thought,  for  our  surplus  energy.  The  exer- 
cise finished,  we  ran  to  our  rooms  for  a  towel 
bath,  and  at  ten  o'clock  precisely  we  were  again 
seated  for  hard  study.  Thus  muscle  and  mind 
were  developed  together." 

Strong  in  body,  abounding  in  health  and  spir- 
its, a  leader  in  fun  as  well  as  in  study,  earnest 
and  manly  in  his  friendships,  the  handsome  col- 
lege boy  could  never  forget  these  happy  years. 
The  way  was  often  dark,  but  his  mother's  love 
and  encouragement  helped  him  on.  Sometimes 
he  walked  the  ten  miles  from  college  to  his  home 
at  South  Hadley  Falls  to  save  his  money,  occa- 
sionally selling  writing-paper  to  the  farmers,  but 
the  journey  paid  the  often  homesick  and  affec- 
tionate son.  "  He  graduated  from  college,"  wrote 
one  of  the  professors,  "  with  a  supplemental 
knowledge  of  men  and  things  rarely  possessed 
by  college  graduates."  He  always  said  he  felt 
"  profoundly  grateful  to  the  founders,  the  bene- 
[14] 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

factors,  and  the  faculty  of  Amherst  College/'  He 
appreciated  the  Master  of  Arts  degree  given  him 
later  by  the  college. 

College  days,  with  their  occasional  clouds,  were 
usually  bright  and  sunny.  In  his  junior  year 
he  met  the  young  lady  who  afterward  became  his 
wife.  The  affection  then  begun  never  lost  any  of 
its  whole-hearted  devotion.  The  delicate  appre- 
ciation, the  thought  for  her  health  and  com- 
fort, the  loneliness  without  her  companionship, 
the  chivalric  honor  for  true  womanhood,  never 
lessened  in  all  the  years.  The  beautiful  letters 
written  during  the  two  years  of  separation  before 
marriage  showed  no  more  absorbing  love  than 
the  letters  in  the  latter  days.  With  similarity  of 
tastes  in  books,  with  kindred  aspirations  for  all 
that  was  elevating  and  helpful,  drawn  even  more 
closely  together  if  possible  by  the  struggles  that 
come  to  all  in  one  form  or  another,  his  marriage 
seemed  to  fulfill  his  fondest  hopes.  Twenty 
years  after  marriage  he  wrote  to  his  wife :  "  You 
and  what  you  do  are  the  very  heart  of  my  life. 
...   I   prefer    a   crust  with    you  rather    than    a 

[15] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

crown  alone.  .  .  .  Being  absent  in  body  I  am 
always  poor.  Your  presence  makes  me  rich.  .  .  . 
I  hardly  know  how  to  plan  or  work  at  my  best 
without  your  help.  .  .  .  The  room  without  you 
is  empty  and  dreary.  I  am  always  proud  to  have 
people  speak  your  name  to  me.  .  .  .  You  and 
I  will  try  to  prove  the  value  of  two  lives  knitted 
into  one,  that  we  may  be  seen  now  and  in  the 
centuries  to  come  like  the  two  stars  known  as  the 
Polar  star." 

During  Mr.  Bolton's  last  vacation  in  college, 
he  went  to  the  front  in  the  Civil  War  and  assisted 
in  the  work  of  the  Sanitary  and  Christian  Com- 
missions. He  ministered  to  the  dying  after  that 
dreadful  explosion  of  the  mine  at  Petersburg, 
Virginia,  July  30,  1864,  "where  the  ruined  fort 
was  ten  feet  deep  with  dead.'* 

He  writes  in  his  autobiography:  "At  mid- 
night on  Friday,  July  29th,  all  was  ready.  The 
feint  had  been  made  at  Deep  Bottom,  weakening 
the  enemy  in  front  of  Petersburg.  The  assault- 
ing force  was  the  ninth  corps,  supported  by  the 
eighteenth  corps,  with  the  second  in  reserve  on 

ri61 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

the  right,  and  the  fifth  on  the  left,  the  whole 
closely  massed.  At  3:30  Saturday  morning  the 
fuse  was  lighted,  but  the  fire  went  out.  It  was 
nearly  two  hours  before  it  was  relighted  and  the 
explosion  occurred.  The  ground  trembled,  and 
huge  clouds  of  dust,  guns,  caissons,  and  two 
hundred  soldiers,  many  maimed,  were  thrown  into 
the  air.  Where  once  stood  a  six-gun  rebel  fort 
and  garrison  now  was  seen  a  crater  one  hundred 
feet  in  length,  fifty  feet  in  width,  and  twenty  feet 
in  depth  —  a  mass  of  ruins.  A  hundred  guns 
along  the  Union  line  opened  fire ;  the  boys  in 
blue  began  to  cross  the  deadly  plain.  The  ad- 
vancing troops  should  have  captured  the  frown- 
ing crest  beyond,  but  delays  gave  time  for  the 
enemy  to  recover  from  their  surprise,  and  to  con- 
centrate troops,  who  poured  a  terrific  enfilading 
fire  upon  the  captured  fort.  The  delays  had 
been  fatal.  The  increased  fire  of  the  enemy 
plowed  the  Union  ranks  with  slaughter.  The 
brave  charge  was  checked,  the  line  wavered,  and 
finally  recoiled  to  the  ruined  fort  or  crater. 

"  As  a  forlorn  hope  the  colored  division  of  the 
[17] 


CHARLES   E.   BOLTON 

ninth  corps,  under  General  Ferrero,  was  dis- 
patched to  do  what  the  three  other  divisions  of 
white  troops  had  failed  to  accomplish.  These 
colored  troops  had  been  carefully  drilled  and 
were  now,  under  adverse  circumstances,  to  demon- 
strate their  fighting  qualities.  The  dark  cloud 
of  heroes  swept  along  for  four  hundred  yards 
toward  the  crest,  only  to  be  beaten  back  with 
terrible  vengeance.  The  black  soldiers  under 
white  officers  did  all  they  could  to  reach  the  goal, 
but  the  venom  of  the  Confederacy  was  concen- 
trated upon  their  former  slaves,  and  Ferrero's 
brigade  plunged  headlong  back  into  the  crater. 
My  cousin,  John  D.  Patterson,  was  adjutant  of 
one  of  these  four  colored  regiments.  He  told 
me  that  for  hours  he  rallied  and  fought  his  men 
in  and  about  this  crater,  this  slaughter  pen  of 
slavery,  till  the  ruined  fort  was  ten  feet  deep 
with  dead,  dying,  and  praying  humanity.  Every 
rod  of  space  between  the  fort  and  Federal  lines 
was  under  the  severest  cross-fire.  Again  and 
again  the  enemy  charged  the  ruined  fort,  till  at 
noon  a  general  Union  retreat  was  ordered.  The 
r  i81 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

Federal  losses  were  about  five  thousand.  For 
thirty-six  hours  the  wounded  and  dead  lay  on 
the  battlefield  beneath  a  broiling  sun,  when  under 
a  flag  of  truce  they  were  removed. 

"  At  noon  on  Saturday  four  of  us  delegates 
were  ordered  to  take  George  H.  Stuart's  coffee 
wagon  with  white  horses  to  the  field  hospital. 
We  made  part  of  the  journey  by  freight  train, 
till  rebel  shot  stopped  the  engine,  and  then  we 
had  a  long  and  tedious  journey,  because  very  hot, 
six  miles  over  sandy  roads,  and  through  pine 
woods,  and  finally,  nearly  worn  out,  we  reported 
to  Mr.  F.  E.  Shearer,  the  field  agent,  at  the 
hospital  of  the  eighteenth  corps  before  Peters- 
burg. Refreshed  by  a  supper  of  cold  meat  and 
crackers,  at  nine  o'clock  that  evening  Rogers, 
Grossman,  and  I  pushed  on  down  into  a  thick 
pine  forest,  and  suddenly  we  came  upon  hun- 
dreds of  dead  and  dying  black  soldiers.  There 
they  lay,  seven  hundred  of  them,  beneath  pine 
trees,  in  which  were  stuck  bayonets  that  held 
lighted  candles.  Who  can  paint  the  scene? 
Historians  can  never  picture  the  cruelty  of  war 

[19] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

visited  upon  Ferrero's  Colored  Brigade  at  the 
exploded  mine,  nor  the  black  man's  sufferings  as 
we  witnessed  them  in  the  Pine  Tree  Hospital 
near  Petersburg. 

"  Before  the  surgeon  or  coffee  wagon  could 
afford  relief  we  saw  men  with  prayers  on  their 
lips  breathe  their  last,  we  heard  scores  of  wounded 
men  praying  God  to  take  them  home  to  be  with 
Jesus.  Some  lay  on  their  backs  slowly  bleeding 
to  death ;  some  bent  forward  on  their  elbows 
pleading  for  water  !  Water  !  Water  !  We  made 
barrels  of  coffee  and  hurriedly  passed  cups  to 
parched  lips ;  we  tightened  bandages  and  lifted 
bleeding  soldiers  upon  the  amputating  tables. 
All  night  long  the  surgeons  worked.  Assistants 
kept  sharp  and  clean  the  blades  that  flashed  in 
the  faint  star  and  candle  light.  Frequent  ambu- 
lances bore  away  their  sable  loads  to  canvased 
hospitals,  and  all  night  this  work,  as  terrible  as 
battle  itself,  went  on  till  surgeons  and  delegates 
fell  asleep  utterly  exhausted. 

"  For  days  we  worked  in  the  hospitals  at  the 
front,  and  often  lugged  papers,  writing  material, 

[20] 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

etc.,  into  the  trenches  to  the  soldiers.  Where 
the  lines  are  only  a  few  hundred  feet  apart  it  is 
often  very  dangerous  to  show  as  much  as  one's 
head  to  the  enemy.  We  were  frequently  shot  at, 
and  it  was  no  uncommon  occurrence  to  hear 
close  to  your  ears  the  zip  of  a  minie  bullet  from 
a  rebel  telescope  rifle,  as  we  entered  or  as  we 
departed  from  the  triple  line  of  trenches,  dug 
deep  in  the  sand  or  clay. 

"  We  delegates  gathered  thousands  of  dollars 
from  the  soldiers,  and  the  money  was  expressed 
by  the  Christian  Commission  to  the  soldiers* 
homes. 

"  We  expected  a  battle  to  begin  at  any  moment, 
day  or  night,  and  often  artillery  was  at  work  on 
various  portions  of  the  lines.  Sometimes  at  night 
it  was  most  exciting ;  the  spiteful  flash  and  roar 
of  the  guns,  especially  of  a  big  gun  called  the 
'  Swamp  Angel.*  Sitting  on  a  log  one  evening 
we  suddenly  noticed  a  bombshell  with  its  lighted 
fuse  coming  over  near  us.  Oh,  how  closely  we 
hugged  the  other  side  of  the  big  log,  but  the 
dreaded  explosion  did  not  occur. 

[21] 


CHARLES    E.    BOLTON 

"This  same  night  the  artillery  of  both  armies 
for  miles  was  fighting  a  fierce  duel.  An  acci- 
dental shot  or  suspicious  move  in  some  fort  had 
doubtless  alarmed  everybody,  and  the  corps 
generals  and  staffs  of  both  armies  were  mounted 
and  alert  till  long  past  midnight. 

"  The  delegates  held  frequent  religious  meet- 
ings among  themselves  and  in  the  hospitals.  In 
one  of  the  wards  on  a  Sabbath  evening  I  came 
upon  a  group  of  wounded  negroes,  who  were 
singing  as  follows  :  — 

*  Time  's  going  away. 
Why  don't  you  pray. 
And  end  this  cruel  war  in  Heaven, 
Oh,  my  blessed  Lord  ?  * 

Each  stanza  ending  with 

'  Oh,  my  blessed  Lord  ?  *  " 

One  of  the  negro  soldiers,  Thomas  Freeman, 
carried  a  family  Bible  in  his  knapsack  in  place  of 
his  blankets.  It  was  given  him  by  some  hungry 
slave  women  in  a  large  Southern  house,  deserted 
by  its  owners.  He  loved  the  Bible,  read  in  it 
daily,   and   took   it   into   battle.     When   he   was 

[22] 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

shot,  his  brother  William  secured  it,  and  when 
dying  in  the  hospital  sold  it  for  five  dollars 
to  the  ward  master,  of  whom  Mr.  Bolton 
bought  it  and  presented  it  to  his  college  in 
token  of  the  Christian  heroism  of  the  colored 
soldiers. 

"  I  was  at  the  Fourth  Division  Hospital,"  Mr. 
Bolton  wrote  home,  "  when  the  wounded  colored 
soldiers  came  in ;  I  assisted  in  doing  up  their 
wounds,  and  failed  to  find  the  entrance  of  balls 
otherwise  than  in  the  front  and  sides  of  the  body, 
the  latter  caused  by  the  murderous  flank  fires, 
which  our  ofHcers  should  have  prevented.  Oper- 
ating surgeons  at  the  table  remarked  to  me  that 
'  it  was  a  noticeable  fact  that  black  boys  faced  the 
music  almost  invariably,  as  shown  from  the  posi- 
tion of  wounds.' " 

"  After  leaving  college,  I  was  still  undecided 
as  to  Hfe's  work,"  says  Mr.  Bolton.  "  I  started 
in  college  with  the  ministry  in  view,  but  owed 
money  which  must  be  paid. 

"  I  remember  once  going  to  Pelham  Hills  to 
supply   a  vacant   pulpit.     In    the    morning    my 

[23] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

classmate  Tyler  announced  that  he  would  read 
one  of  Beecher's  sermons. 

"  In  the  afternoon  I  preached  my  first  and  last 
sermon  from  the  text,  Luke,  chapter  xxi,  verses 
I,  a,  3  :  the  woman  who  cast  in  her  two  mites. 
At  the  close  of  the  meeting  a  woman  in  black 
came  and  said,  '  Mr.  Bolton,  the  Lord  must 
have  suggested  the  text  and  ideas.'  Was  it  a 
providential  call  or  not,  to  preach  ?  For  some 
time  this  greatly  troubled  me. 

"  Tyler  and  I  used  a  white  livery  horse,  and 
the  hire  was  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents,  which  was 
half  of  the  total  sum  which  we  received  for  the 
two  sermons.  We  divided  equally  the  surplus, 
and  with  my  seventy-five  cents  I  bought  two 
Sunday  School  books  and  sent  them  back  to  the 
Pelham  Sunday  School." 

Mr.  Bolton  finally  decided  in  favor  of  business 
and  became  for  a  short  time  the  general  agent 
in  Ohio  for  the  sale  of  Holland's  "  Life  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,"  settling  in  Cleveland  in  the 
summer  of  1865. 

"  I  recall  my  impressions  of  Cleveland,"  he 
[24] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

writes,  "  when  in  early  summer  I  first  came  into 
the  old  depot  on  the  Lake  Erie  docks.  I  was 
glad  to  look  out  upon  a  lake  too  broad  for  one 
to  see  the  opposite  shore.  The  foundations  of 
the  new  stone  railway  station  were  then  being 
laid.  Already  the  year  ^1865'  was  cut  in  the 
stone  arch ;  also  the  head  of  Mr.  Amasa  Stone 
was  carved  in  stone.  He  was  a  large  owner  and 
director  in  the  Lake  Shore  Railway.  In  those 
days  the  new  depot  seemed  grand.  Within 
thirty  years  the  city,  the  traffic  and  the  aesthetic 
demands  have  outgrown  Stone's  station.  In 
1865  Cleveland  had  only  sixty-five  thousand  peo- 
ple. My  first  words  as  I  climbed  the  bank  and 
came  to  Superior  Street  were,  *  This  must  be  a 
fine  city,  as  it  has  horse  cars,  with  the  music  of 
bells.' 

"  I  stopped  at  the  Weddell  for  dinner  and 
recall  only  the  dessert,  —  delicious  Lawton  black- 
berries ;  called  upon  a  Mr.  Green,  who  had 
acted  for  Mr.  Gurdon  Bill,  publisher,  of  Spring- 
field, Massachusetts ;  secured  an  office  in  the 
Perkins  block  on  the  northwestern  corner  of  the 
[25] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

Public  Square,  where  now  stands  the  new  Ameri- 
can Trust  Building;  arranged  for  rooms  with 
Mrs.  Schofield  on  the  corner  of  Euclid  Avenue 
and  Erie  Street,  and  had  notices  in  papers,  —  all 
this  on  the  first  half  day  and  before  tea  time. 

"  The  next  day  several  men  and  women  and 
soldiers  from  the  war  called.  The  idea  of  fight- 
ing under  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  then  selling  his 
Life,  pleased  the  old  soldiers.  We  witnessed  the 
return  to  the  Public  Square  of  an  Ohio  regiment, 
or  what  was  left  of  it.  Good  things  to  eat  and 
drink  were  furnished  to  the  knapsacked  veterans 
by  the  Cleveland  women  from  long  tables  that 
extended  in  the  shade  across  the  northern  side  of 
the  Square.  The  greeting  proffered  to  the  sur- 
viving heroes  was  pathetic.  Thin  young  men, 
who  had  grown  prematurely  old,  fell  into  the  out- 
stretched arms  of  wives  and  mothers.  Sisters  met 
their  brothers  —  at  first  they  hesitated,  scarcely 
recognizing  in  the  uncouth  and  ragged  veterans 
their  own  kith  and  kin.  Honest  farmers  had 
driven  in  to  welcome  their  own  brave  boys. 
Some  came  fearing  that  they  must  return  with  an 
[26] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

empty  seat  in  the  wagon,  and  find  the  same  at 
the  home  table.  Most  homes  in  the  city  and 
surrounding  towns  mourned  for  their  loyal  dead. 
Other  mothers  and  wives,  with  children  a  head 
taller  than  in  1861,  looked  in  vain  for  the  strong 
arm  and  words  of  love.  So  many  of  the  ten 
thousand  healthy  and  noble  soldiers  that  Cuya- 
hoga County  enlisted  to  save  the  Union  now  lay  in 
nameless  Southern  graves.  Those  that  mourned 
mingled  glad  words  with  those  that  rejoiced.  The 
useless  muskets  were  now  stacked,  and  ladened 
with  rusty  canteens  and  worn  knapsacks.  The 
boys  in  blue  again  stood  erect,  tears  of  joy 
yielded  to  smiles,  hearts  were  gladdened,  and 
appetites  satisfied  with  the  rattle  of  dishes  and 
odor  of  coffee  —  and  all  these  good  things  came 
from  willing  hands  at  their  own  Northern  home. 
Thrice  happy  the  soldier  boy  that  had  helped 
save  the  Union,  helped  free  four  million  slaves, 
and  who  was  to  have  his  name  cut  in  imperisha- 
ble marble  on  this  same  historic  Public  Square. 

"  Circulars   telling   of  the    Life   of    Abraham 
Lincoln,   and   emphasizing    '  Agents    Wanted  !  * 
[27] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

were  sent  to  the  temporary  camps  established  for 
the  returning  soldiers.  It  was  a  pleasure  to  buy 
this  delightful  biography  from  the  boys  who  had 
served  under  '  Uncle  Abraham/  " 

A  year  later,  October  i6,  1866,  Mr.  Bolton 
married  in  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin,  on  a  beautiful 
day  at  sunset,  the  young  lady  of  his  choice,^  she 
having  gone  to  that  city  with  relatives.  After  a 
time  a  small  but  attractive  home  was  rented,  and 
love  brightened  the  struggles  of  daily  living.  An 
only  son,  Charles,  was  born  in  the  late  autumn 
of  1867,  who  has  always  proved  worthy  of  the 
affection  which  his  father  gave  him.  Mr.  Bolton 
was  pleased  to  see  him  build  engines  and  boats  as 
he  himself  had  done  when  a  boy.  He  found  time 
to  take  him  on  long  walks  with  the  pretty  little 
twin  girls  of  a  neighbor,  Edith  and  Addie  Ford, 
while  they  gathered  scores  of  varieties  of  seeds, 
put  them  in  bottles  and  labelled  them,  or  chipped 
rocks  and  renewed  the  love  of  mineralogy  for 
which  he  had  taken  a  prize  in  college. 

^  Sarah  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  John  Segar  Knowles  of  Farming- 
ton,  Connecticut.      Her  portrait  is  inserted  here  by  her  son's  desire. 

[281 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

In  1881  Mr.  Bolton  wrote  to  his  wife:  "I 
am  writing  you  on  Charlie's  fourteenth  birthday. 
I  think  I  am  the  happiest  and  richest  husband 
and  father  because  God  lets  me  call  you  two  wife 
and  son."  He  wrote  his  son  ten  years  later, 
November  14,  1891,  from  Michigan,  where  he 
was  lecturing:  — 

"My  Dear  Two  Dozen:  —  This  is  your 
birthday.  Half  the  age  of  your  father.  The 
world  is  before  you,  and  often  I  wonder  what 
more  it  will  bring  for  us  three.  Surely  God  has 
blessed  us  with  health  unusual,  and  knowledge 
a  little,  so  that  we  have  more  extended  views 
of  men  and  things,  but  how  extremely  limited 
our  field  of  vision.  This  evening  my  mind 
turns  back  twenty-four  years.  ...  It  was  nine 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  in  time  for  your  first 
lesson,  that  you  arrived,  and  I  remember  well  the 
first  sounds  that  made  my  heart  leap  for  joy  and 
the  first  kiss  was  mine,  and  earnest  gratitude  that 
mother  and  son  were  alive.  My  joy  this  evening 
is  that  you  have  brought  only  happiness  to  our 
hearts." 

[29] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

Thankful  for  his  child,  and  successful  in  his 
business  of  selling  bank  safes  for  Hall's  Safe  & 
Lock  Company  of  Cincinnati,  he  having  taken 
the  agency  at  Cleveland,  and  later  dealing  in  real 
estate,  Mr.  Bolton  did  not  forget  that  he  had 
something  to  do  in  a  young  and  growing  city 
other  than  to  earn  money.  In  April,  1867, 
having  read  in  the  newspaper  that  Mr.  H.  Thane 
Miller  of  Cincinnati,  the  blind  principal  of  a 
school,  was  interested  in  Y.  M.  C.  A.  work,  Mr. 
Bolton  wrote  him  for  plans  and  suggestions.  An 
association  of  young  men  was  soon  formed  in 
Cleveland,  composed  largely  of  Mr.  Bolton's 
friends  in  the  Stone  Church,  and  he  was  made  its 
corresponding  secretary.  Such  an  organization 
had  been  formed  in  the  city  thirteen  years  before, 
but  was  disbanded  in  the  time  of  the  Civil  War. 

Fifteen  thousand  dollars  were  subscribed  for  a 
new  Y.  M.  C.  A.  building,  the  members  many  of 
them  pledging  one  hundred  dollars  each,  when 
most  of  them  had  no  homes  of  their  own,  and 
only  what  they  earned  from  day  to  day.  For 
many  years   Mr.  Bolton  gave  untiring  effort  to 

[30] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

this  Christian  work,  and  lived  to  see  the  associa- 
tion have  a  membership  of  over  three  thousand, 
with  many  departments,  and  owning  over  three 
hundred  thousand  dollars  worth  of  property. 
The  good  already  done  by  this  organization,  and 
its  power  for  good  in  the  future,  can  scarcely  be 
overestimated. 

Mr.  Bolton  became  one  of  a  band  of  earnest 
young  men,  who,  with  the  co-operation  of  the 
ministers,  held  union  rehgious  meetings  in  many, 
perhaps  hundreds,  of  towns  in  Ohio  and  the 
neighboring  states.  The  number  of  conversions 
resulting  can  never  be  known.  All  through  life 
Mr.  Bolton  was  accustomed  to  have  men  meet 
him  on  the  street  and  say,  "You  do  not  re- 
member me,  but  your  words  led  me  to  give  up 
drinking,"  or  "  to  become  a  Christian  man." 

He  with  others  spoke  in  workhouse  and  jail 
and  state  penitentiary  at  Columbus.  The  men 
believed  in  him,  and  many  on  their  release  came 
to  our  home  and  were  helped  to  employment. 
Mr.  Bolton  never  went  empty-handed.  Some- 
times he  carried  a  bushel  of  red  apples  or  other 
[31] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

fruit  for  the  younger  ones  in  the  workhouse,  or 
a  picture  to  brighten  the  bare  walls  of  the  con- 
victs' chapel  at  Columbus. 

Mr.  Bolton  tells  this  incident :  "  The  horses 
often  took  us  out  to  missionary  meetings.  On 
one  occasion,  when  I  hurried  into  the  orchard 
with  an  empty  four-quart  measure  to  capture  our 
white  horse,  Charlie  went  with  me.  As  I  held 
out  the  measure  and  suddenly  put  my  hand  over 
Kitty's  mane,  the  young  boy  looked  up  into 
my  face  and  said,  ^When  you  offer  Kitty  a 
measure  with  no  oats,  how  does  that  differ 
from  telling  a  lie  ? '  I  frankly  acknowledged 
my  fault,  and  afterward  the  measure  always  con- 
tained oats." 

Once  Mr.  Bolton  found  a  boy  in  a  steam  car, 
stealing  his  ride,  his  hands  and  feet  nearly  frozen, 
and  brought  him  home.  He  stayed  with  us  for 
months,  and  was  dishonest  as  he  left  us,  a  thing 
which  rarely  happened  with  those  whom  we 
helped.  But  thirty  years  afterward,  when  he 
had  received  much  of  the  wages  of  sin,  and  we 
had   forgotten    him,  he  came    to    thank    us    for 

[32] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

the  kindness  given  him  in  his  poverty-stricken 
boyhood. 

A  man  could  not  preach  Christianity  with 
much  good  result  unless  he  cared  for  the  fam- 
ishing and  the  homeless,  and  as  Mr.  Bolton 
had  been  pecuniarily  successful  in  the  real  estate 
which  he  had  purchased,  it  was  a  pleasure  as  well 
as  a  duty  to  give.  In  one  of  many  families 
visited  by  him  he  found  the  father  dying  and  the 
mother  with  an  infant.  He  turned  the  old  table 
upside  down  and  thus  improvised  a  bed  for  the 
little  ones,  provided  food,  helped  to  bury  the 
father,  and  lived  to  see  the  children  fill  honora- 
ble positions  in  life. 

Mr.  Bolton  never  used  tobacco  in  any  way, 
and  was  an  active  worker  for  temperance.  A 
total  abstainer  himself,  he  encouraged  others  to 
abstain.  He  helped  to  form  a  temperance 
league  in  Ohio,  whereby  over  a  thousand  cases 
of  violation  of  law  by  saloonkeepers  were  ascer- 
tained through  detectives,  as  is  done  in  other 
criminal  matters.  Many  saloons  had  to  close 
their  harmful    business.     Mr.  Bolton  helped  all 

3  [  33  ] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

over  the  state  to  fight  the  proposed  change  in 
the  State  Constitution  suggested  by  the  liquor 
interest,  namely,  to  give  permission  to  license 
liquor  selling.  Ohio  decided  against  license  by 
a  large  vote,  August   i8,   1874. 

When  Mr.  Bolton  was  thirty-two  years  of  age, 
life  seemed  all  that  he  could  ask.  With  a  pretty 
home,  a  sufficient  fortune  won  in  real  estate,  his 
wife  and  boy  happy,  honored  in  his  city  and  state, 
helping  forward  every  good  enterprise,  the  strug- 
gles of  boyhood  and  college  seemed  passed  for- 
ever. His  energy  was  marvellous.  No  amount 
of  work  seemed  to  tire  him.  Believing  in  the 
great  future  of  Cleveland,  others  shared  his 
optimism  and  enthusiasm,  and  bought  land  of 
him  if  his  judgment  approved. 

In  1873,  unlooked-for  by  all  save  perhaps  a 
few  of  the  most  experienced  financiers  of  the 
country,  the  financial  panic  came,  and  fortunes 
were  swept  away  in  a  day.  Real  estate  rapidly 
decreased  in  value.  One  portion  of  land  was 
deeded  back  to  its  owner  by  Mr.  Bolton,  al- 
though he  already  had  paid  the  man  ten  thou- 
[34] 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

sand  dollars  in  money,  and  had  not  sold  a  foot 
of  it.  Land  which  he  had  sold  at  more  than 
two  hundred  dollars  per  foot  shrank  to  fifty- 
eight  dollars,  and  no  buyers  at  that.  Both  his 
homes,  the  one  in  which  he  lived  and  a  new 
one  just  built,  he  sold  for  the  benefit  of  cred- 
itors. In  vain  he  was  urged  to  take  advantage 
of  the  Bankrupt  Law,  and,  while  still  a  young 
man,  clear  himself  from  obligations,  and  begin 
anew.  This,  with  his  high  sense  of  honor, 
whether  wisely  or  unwisely,  he  refused  to  do, 
and  as  a  consequence,  as  he  says  in  his  autobi- 
ography, "for  nearly  twenty  years  became  a 
serf  to  those  he  owed." 

Perhaps  all  this  tended  to  develop  Mr. 
Bolton's  strength  of  character  and  manliness, 
making  him  tolerant,  never  censorious,  and  ever 
ready  to  encourage  and  help  the  unfortunate. 
No  doubt,  losses  keep  us  from  arrogance  and 
make  us  deeply  sympathetic  with  the  poverty 
and  disappointment  which  nine-tenths  of  the 
human  race  seem  born  to,  and  live  in  all  their 
days. 

[35] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

Handicapped  through  his  young  manhood, 
Mr.  Bolton  kept  to  a  wonderful  degree  his 
cheerful  and  hopeful  nature,  "  looking,"  as  he 
said,  "always  on  the  bright  side,"  his  motto 
being  i.  d.  d.  i.  —  If  duty,  do  it,  —  working 
with  all  the  strength  of  his  strong  body  and 
strong  will.  He  was  "  ten  men  in  one,"  said 
one  of  his  friends  after  his  death,  and  this  was 
true.  But  the  struggles  were  hard  for  him 
nevertheless.  Several  years  after  the  financial 
panic  he  wrote  to  his  wife,  "  With  liberty  and  a 
clear  conscience  we  ought  to  be  happy,  though 
debts  and  taxes  pinch  us  for  a  time.  ...  I  see 
my  way  in  part  for  the  future,  and  am  glad  to 
battle  with  the  waves.  It  develops  heroism.  .  .  . 
The  heart  of  your  college  boy  who  came  near 
going  down  in  the  general  wreck  of  the  terrible 
panic,  beats  strongly  again,  and  even  more  ear- 
nestly in  love  toward  you.  ...  It  has  not  been 
an  easy  task  to  face  all  that  I  have  encountered. 
Don*t  worry.     God  has  and  will  provide." 

In  1880  he  wrote  to  his  wife,  seven  years 
after    the   panic,  when   absent   on   business :   "  I 

[36] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

am  thirty-nine  next  Sunday.  Is  it  possible  that 
we  are  almost  forty  years  old  ?  Am  reading 
many  things,  —  one  little  book  on  logic  by  Pro- 
fessor Jevons.  Am  getting  a  perfect  passion 
for  ideas  and  facts,  and  power  to  give  forcible 
expression  to  them.  Glad  we  have  eternity  to 
work  in." 

In  1886  he  wrote  to  her:  "This  is  my  forty- 
fifth  birthday.  Three-fourths  of  life  gone,  per- 
haps more."     And  so  it  proved. 

May  16,  1890:  "This  is  my  forty-ninth 
birthday,  7x7  years  old.  Another  twelve 
months  and  I  am  fifty,  and  then  like  the  Jews 
we  will  hold  our  jubilee,  if  we  are  out  of  debt, 
and  thereby  rich."  And  the  day  of  thanks- 
giving and  rejoicing  was  kept. 

In  1876,  three  years  after  the  financial  panic, 
a  position  had  opened  for  Mr.  Bolton  in  the 
Cleveland  Machine  Company,  through  Mr.  Dan 
P.  Eells,  a  wealthy  and  prominent  man  who 
had  always  believed  in  him.  Nearly  three  years 
later  he  was  sent  to  Europe  by  the  company  of 
which    he  was  now  vice-president  and  manager, 

[37] 


CHARLES    E.    BOLTON 

to  complete  sales  for  box-making  machines, 
which  could  make  from  twelve  thousand  to 
twenty  thousand  boxes  a  day.  Each  machine 
sold  for  five  thousand  dollars. 

Very  fond  of  machinery,  Mr.  Bolton  took  out 
some  patents  and  added  some  useful  inventions 
of  his  own.  When  he  was  eighteen  he  had  in- 
vented a  self-raking  and  loading  hay-cart  which 
was  very  ingenious,  and  he  enjoyed  mechanical 
work.  "  For  months,"  he  says,  "  I  worked  on 
a  miniature  self-raking  and  loading  hay-cart. 
Long  after  father  had  retired  for  the  night,  the 
creaking  of  the  cart,  which  I  often  tested  on 
the  floor  over  his  bedroom,  would  disturb  his 
sleep. 

"  When  the  cart  was  completed  I  invited  the 
neighbors  to  a  trial  of  its  merits.  Our  dog 
Ponto  had  been  trained,  and  he  drew  the 
cart  up  and  down  our  lawn,  both  raking  and 
loading  the  short  cut  and  dried  grass,  to  the 
great  satisfaction  of  the  neighbors  assembled. 
Of  course,  some  said  '  It  would  n't  work,'  but 
it  worked  well  in  model,  and  those  who  claimed 
[38] 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

to  know  said  I  could  easily  get  a  patent,  but  as 
it  would  require  money,  I  never  tried.  En  route 
to  Boston  in  August,  1859,  I  exhibited  my  in- 
vention to  Nourse,  Mason  &  Co.,  of  Worcester. 
The  agent,  Mr.  Davis,  said  it  was  a  valuable  in- 
vention. In  the  Worcester  'Daily  Spy  appeared 
the  following  notice:  — 

"'A  Good  Invention. —  Mr.  Charles  E. 
Bolton,  a  young  man  from  South  Hadley  Falls, 
has  shown  us  the  model  of  a  machine  which  a 
farmer  would  like  to  study.  It  is  a  cunningly 
contrived  hay-cart,  with  machinery  attached  for 
raking,  pitching,  and  loading  the  hay  —  all  by 
the  same  operation.  The  model  appears  to 
work  finely,  and  it  has  been  praised  by  practi- 
cal men  who  have  seen  it  operate.  Mr.  Bolton 
has  a  warmly  commendatory  letter  from  the  ed- 
itor of  the  Scientific  American,  We  hope  it 
may  be  thoroughly  tried,  and  that  the  youthful 
inventor  may  realize  pecuniary  benefit  from  his 
work.^  " 

Mr.  Bolton's  five  successful  trips  to  Europe 
for  the  Cleveland  Machine  Company  brought 
[39] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

him  in  contact  with  manufacturing  interests  and 
with  persons  of  influence  abroad ;  being  a  man 
of  culture  and  wide  information,  he  was  cor- 
dially welcomed  to  the  homes  of  the  Nettle- 
folds  in  Birmingham,  England,  the  screw-makers, 
of  which  firm  the  Honorable  Joseph  Chamber- 
lain, M.  P.,  was  a  partner;  the  Cadburys,  the 
millionaire  owners  of  the  cocoa  works ;  the  Hud- 
sons  at  Chester,  and  many  others.  Sir  George 
Williams,  who  organized  the  first  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
in  the  world,  and  who  was  knighted  by  Queen 
Victoria  for  the  great  good  he  had  done  with 
his  wealth  and  influence,  made  Mr.  Bolton  a 
welcome  guest. 

Mr.  Bolton  sailed  on  the  White  Star  steamer 
Adriatic  September  5,  1878,  and  returned  the 
next  year  on  February  4th.  He  took  his  wife 
with  him.  She  was  already  a  helper  financially, 
having  become  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Boston 
Congregationalist,  taking  the  place  of  Miss  Ellen 
M.  Stone,  the  missionary  who  was  kidnapped 
in  1 901  by  Bulgarian  brigands,  and  ransomed 
in   1902. 

[40] 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

After  the  sacrifice  of  the  preceding  five  years, 
this  journey  in  Europe,  though  made  with  care- 
ful economy,  was  a  blessed  experience  for  two 
who  loved  books,  and  art,  and  the  beauties  of 
nature.  While  waiting  for  the  box  machinery 
to  be  set  up  in  various  establishments  in  the 
cities  where  it  had  been  sold,  brief  excursions 
were  made  to  Scotland,  France,  Switzerland,  and 
Rome. 

Mr.  Bolton  made  his  second  journey  to  Europe 
July  26,  1879,  remaining  into  December  of  the 
same  year.  The  first  days  were  especially  lonely 
for  him.  He  wrote  to  his  "  loved  ones  on  the 
Western  Continent":  "My  whole  heart  goes 
out  across  the  sea,  hundreds  of  times  a  day,  and 
you  shall  have  my  all,  the  best  in  me.  Never 
so  full  of  health  and  ambition.  .  .  .  You  and 
the  dear  boy  are  in  my  mind  hourly,  and  I 
shall  try  to  live  at  my  best,  and  see  what  it 
will  bring.  I  am  very  homesick  at  times,  and 
only  get  rid  of  the  feeling,  akin  to  seasickness, 
by  enlarging  plans  and  applying  myself  to  ear- 
nest work.'* 

[41] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

In  Birmingham  he  heard  John  Henry  New- 
man, just  made  Cardinal  preach  in  the  Cathe- 
dral. "  All  the  people  rose  and  bowed  low  as 
the  Cardinal  entered  the  pulpit,"  he  wrote. 
"  His  voice  was  low  and  sweet,  and  every  word 
came  as  a  father  to  his  children.  .  .  .  His 
'Tracts  for  the  Times'  were  sent  far  and  wide. 
These  may  be  forgotten,  but  not  his  sweet 
hymn  sung  by  all  people,  '  Lead,  Kindly  Light,' 
which  was  written  during  a  Mediterranean 
voyage,   183  2-1 833." 

Mr.  Bolton  wrote  in  August  from  Grasmere : 
"  The  sweet  bell  striking  seven  in  the  Words- 
worth Church  awoke  me,  and  dressing,  I  have 
strolled  up  here,  where  the  poet  once  lived ;  it 
is  a  very  lovely  spot,  overlooking  the  smooth 
waters  and  up  to  the  many  mountains,  so  ma- 
jestic. It  has  seemed,  as  I  have  wandered  about 
this  afternoon,  as  if  the  dozen  gigantic  mountains, 
softened  by  grass  far  up  the  sides  and  lovely 
foliage  to  the  very  top,  completely  shut  out  the 
noise  and  sadness  of  earth,  and  that  the  waters 
so  smooth  only  mirrored  the  rest  and  sunshine 

[42] 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

of  heaven.  Have  read  Wordsworth's  '  Life '  and 
also  much  of  his  poetry ;  two  poems  to  the 
daisy,  you  both  love.  Shall  put  some  on  his 
grave  in  the  morning  before  leaving.^  .  .  . 
Scores  of  mountains  and  thirteen  lakes  are  in 
sight.  ...  It  is  the  Paradise  of  Earth  and  full 
of  fruit,  flowers,  and  the  sweet  voices  of  nature." 
He  often  used  to  speak  of  "  Paradise  Grasmere 
and  Windermere,"  and  years  afterward  named 
two  allotments  of  land  in  East  Cleveland  "  Win- 
dermere," and  "  Grasmere,"  a  street  in  each 
bearing  the  names.  When  asked  to  give  a  name 
to  the  baby  of  the  faithful  Italian  who  worked 
for  us,  Nicola  Ramaciata,  she  was  christened 
"Windermere"  at  his  suggestion. 

"  Last  evening,"  he  wrote,  "  I  followed  a 
pretty  stream  high  up  the  mountain,  and  it 
seemed  to  talk  with  me  as  it  jumped  over  great 
moss-covered  boulders,  and  gleefully  ran  around 

1  The  daisy  was  his  wife's  favorite  flower,  and  he  always  called 
her  by  that  name.  He  said,  "  Daisy  means  much  more  since  my 
study  of  botany.  It  is  indeed  a  wonderful  flower,  or  compound 
flower  of  flowers.  I  never  dreamed  that  each  ray  was  a  single 
flower  and  that  the  centre  was  a  mass  of  perfect  flowers." 

[43] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

ugly  rocks,  saying  cheerfully,  '  See  how  I  over- 
come every  obstacle  !  '  I  gathered  a  great  hand- 
ful of  wild  flowers,  clusters  of  crimson  foxglove, 
the  delicate  blue-bell  and  the  tiny  purple  heather, 
all  for  you,  and  could  n't  give  even  one  to  my 
loved  one.  They  filled  the  water  pitcher  in  my 
room.  The  blue-bell  grows  everywhere  here. 
Have  picked  some  this  morning  and  will  enclose 
also  a  twig  from  the  yew  and  hawthorn  which 
shade  Wordsworth's  grave."  And  here  the 
pressed  heather  and  blue-bell  and  yew  lie  in  the 
letter  just  as  they  were  placed  over  twenty  years 
ago. 

Mr.  Bolton  loved  flowers,  and  trees,  and  lakes, 
and  mountains.  The  blue  waters  of  Lake  Erie 
seen  from  his  house,  the  gorgeous  sunsets,  a 
stream  like  those  of  New  England,  a  granite 
boulder  on  the  lawn,  brought  from  his  early 
home  in  Massachusetts,  all  had  especial  attraction 
for  him.  They  were  like  music  of  which  he  was 
passionately  fond,  and  the  presence  of  little  chil- 
dren, who  always  found  in  him  a  delightful 
companion  and  sympathetic  friend. 
[44] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

"  Reached  Skipton  last  evening  at  5  p.  m./'  he 
wrote.  "  Left  valise  at  station  and  walked  to 
Bolton  Abbey,  northeast  eight  miles.  The 
country  was  charming.  When  tired,  sat  down  in 
the  sweet  hay  fields,  chatted  with  the  laborers, 
and  even  raked  hay ;  got  them  to  tell  me  about 
the  English  farmer,  who  is  hard  pushed ;  also 
names  of  trees,  flowers,  etc.  Went  through  two 
villages  and  over  a  high  hill,  almost  a  mountain, 
in  sight  of  and  in  fact  through  the  moors  (high 
and  almost  barren  hills  which  are  kept  for  hunting 
grouse,  partridges,  etc.),  fifteen  thousand  acres 
owned  by  the  Duke  of  Devonshire.  As  I  walked 
on  alone  through  the  pretty  purple  heather,  I  was 
many  times  startled  by  the  sudden  starting-up  of 
grouse.  Counted  ten  in  one  bevy.  One  year 
over  six  thousand  grouse  were  murdered  by  nobil- 
ity (?)  on  these  moors.  Close  upon  the  last  of 
twilight,  which  continues  so  long  in  England, 
8  :  30  at  least,  when  I  was  about  to  enter  a  lonely 
piece  of  woods,  I  came  upon  the  poorest  poor 
man  and  his  dog.  The  man  was  seventy-eight 
years  old ;  I  gave  him  sixpence,  petted  his  kind 

[45] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

dog,  and  soon  came  upon  the  old  ruin  in  a  church- 
yard ;  many  doorways  and  windows  and  arches 
standing,  all  iv^y-covered  and  more  extensive  than 
Muckross/' 

Mr.  Bolton  was  always  doing  these  little  kind- 
nesses. He  wrote,  "  Going  into  Cambridge  I 
saw  a  blue-eyed  girl  of  eight  years  looking 
anxiously  at  a  pretty  piece  of  crockery.  I  pur- 
chased a  piece  for  sixpence,  and  how  happy  it 
made  her.  This  morning  I  gave  a  sixpence  for 
a  penny  rose  to  a  young  wife  holding  a  baby." 
The  poor  in  England  sell  flowers  to  passers-by. 

In  November,  1879,  ^^  wrote  from  the 
middle  of  the  Black  Sea,  aboard  the  French 
steamer  Province :  "  A  host  of  events  crowds 
your  mind  as  you  enter  the  historical  Bosporus 
that  separates  Asia  and  Europe  and  flows  from 
the  Black  Sea  into  the  Sea  of  Marmora,  and 
thence  through  the  Dardanelles  into  the  Mediter- 
ranean Sea.  You  first  see  the  top  of  a  high 
mountain,  then  a  range,  then  the  low  hills,  some 
white,  at  last  a  white  lighthouse,  and  you  are  in 
the  broad,  deep  Bosporus,  with  high  and  steep 

[46] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

hills  on  both  sides,  at  the  foot  of  which  for  a  mile 
are  situated  a  dozen  forts,  mounting  hundreds  of 
heavy  cannon. 

"The  sail  for  ten  miles  to  Constantinople  is 
most  delightful,  past  a  score  or  more  of  sizable 
villages.  In  fact,  both  shores  are  almost  a  con- 
tinuation of  towns  that  join  each  other.  The 
weather  is  very  mild,  which  is  so  enjoyable,  hav- 
ing left  snow  at  St.  Petersburg.  En  route  we 
passed  several  marble  palaces  of  the  Sultan  and 
came  to  anchor  in  the  Golden  Horn,  not  at  a 
wharf.  Scores  of  small  boats  came  to  take  us 
ashore."  .  .  . 

"  Such  a  mixture  of  languages.  Was  fortu- 
nate, at  the  outset,  at  least,  in  securing  the 
services  of  an  Italian  guide  who  served  me  well 
during  my  three  days*  stay  in  Constantinople, 
except  when  I  traded ;  then  I  think  he  and  the 
shopkeepers  were  in  league.  Visited  mosques, 
bazaars,  Caucasian  quarters,  Scutari  across  the 
Bosporus,  and  its  Turkish  cemetery :  also  the 
English  cemetery  where  eight  thousand  nameless 
English  soldiers  are  buried.  Here  in  the 
[47] 


CHARLES   E.   BOLTON 

barracks  Florence  Nightingale  did  her  work 
which  immortalized  her  name. 

"  Standing  by  the  English  monument  on  one 
of  the  clearest,  brightest  days  I  ever  saw,  the 
landscape  before  me  was  unsurpassed  by  any 
I  ever  beheld :  before  me  the  broad  blue  and 
mirror-like  Sea  of  Marmora,  on  the  left  the  dis- 
tinct wavy  ranges  of  mountains  against  the  sky, 
and  over  and  beyond  all  the  classical  Olympus, 
its  top  piercing  the  cloud  and  covered  with  per- 
petual snow.  It  was  difficult  to  determine  where 
the  mountain  ended  and  the  clouds  began,  they 
blended  so  beautifully  into  each  other. 

"  Across  the  sea,  sprinkled  with  sail,  were  Point 
Stefano,  occupied  last  year  by  eighty  thousand 
Russians,  and  to  the  right  across  the  entrance  to 
the  Bosporus  lay  coveted  Constantinople,  with  its 
many  palaces,  mosques,  and  minarets. 

"...  Dined  with  our  minister.  Honorable 
Horace  Maynard,  who  said  to  bring  my  wife 
next  time.  He  and  his  son  are  graduates  of 
Amherst  College.  .  .  .  General  Lucius  Fairchild, 
three  times  Governor  of  Wisconsin,  and  wife 
[48] 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

and  two    daughters   came   on   the  same   steamer 
with  me." 

All  journeyed  together  to  Vienna,  and  then 
back  to  England. 

A  third  trip  to  Europe  was  made  from  June  to 
September,  1880.  Mr.  Bolton  was  appointed 
State  delegate  from  Ohio  to  the  World's  Sunday- 
School  Centenary  at  London,  held  in  June,  and 
enjoyed  the  workers  whom  he  met.  Having 
taught  in  the  Sunday  School,  it  was  a  pleasure  to 
stand  in  the  old  house  in  Gloucester  where 
Robert  Raikes  held  his  first  Sunday  School ;  the 
work  has  now  grown  to  twelve  million  scholars. 

Mr.  Bolton  met  many  very  interesting  people. 
He  wrote :  "  I  saw  Sir  Henry  Bessemer,  one 
of  God's  noblemen.  He  has  forty  acres  at  Den- 
mark Hill,  London.  Gave  me  true  honor;  took 
me  all  over  his  loveliest  of  homes.  Has  the 
handsomest  conservatory  and  fernery  I  ever  saw. 
Told  me  of  his  struggles,  successes,  and  all  about 
his  new  and  truly  wonderful  telescope.  His  is  an 
ideal  life  and  home." 

July   6,    1880,    Mr.    Bolton  wrote:  "Aboard 

4  [49] 


CHARLES   E.   BOLTON 

express  from  London  to  Birmingham.  Along 
the  way  people  are  making  hay,  three  weeks 
earlier  than  last  year.  I  never  tire  of  the  deep, 
heavy  foliage,  and  picturesque  views.  Some 
fields  are  yellow  with  large  golden  buttercups, 
others  white  with  ox-eyed  daisies.  Just  passed  a 
hill  slope  yellow  as  gold  with  mustard  blossoms." 
These  he  so  much  liked  that  he  planted  them  in 
his  own  garden. 

The  fourth  trip  abroad  was  from  July  to  Octo- 
ber, 1 88 1,  and  the  fifth  from  May  to  September, 
1882.  In  the  fourth  voyage  Mr.  Bolton  was 
joined  by  his  wife  and  son,  fourteen  years  old, 
"  the  best  boy  in  the  whole  world,"  he  used  to 
say.  Together,  whenever  time  could  be  spared 
from  business,  they  enjoyed  the  old  world.  Mr. 
Bolton  was  a  delegate  to  the  World's  Conference 
of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  held  in 
London,  and  Mrs.  Bolton  shared  with  others  in 
the  receptions  given  to  these  Christian  workers. 
It  was  a  pleasure  to  talk  with  such  men  as  the 
devoted  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  whose  work  for 
labor   and  the    oppressed  was  known  the  world 

[50] 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

over;  to  Mr.  Samuel  Morley,  M.P.,  who  invited 
all  the  delegates  to  his  palatial  home  at  Tun- 
bridge  ;  and  to  the  venerable  father  of  the  late 
Russell  Sturgis,  of  Boston,  senior  partner  of  Bar- 
ing Brothers.  At  the  home  of  Mr.  Sturgis, 
Thomas  Hughes,  the  author  of  "Tom  Brown  at 
Oxford,"  Mrs.  Brinsley  Sheridan,  the  daughter 
of  Motley  the  historian,  and  other  distinguished 
people  were  of  the  party.  While  we  were  in 
London,  James  Russell  Lowell,  our  minister, 
showed  us  much  courtesy. 

Mr.  Bolton  spoke  before  two  thousand  people 
at  a  memorial  meeting  for  President  Garfield, 
whom  he  greatly  admired,  held  in  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Newman  Hall's  Church  in  London,  at  the  same 
hour  as  that  of  the  funeral  in  Cleveland,  Ohio. 
The  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  Parker  of  London  and  Gen- 
eral Clinton  B.  Fisk  were  the  other  speakers. 

Mrs.  Bolton  passed  over  a  year  abroad,  her 
husband  joining  her  the  following  summer,  when 
they  spent  some  time  in  Norway  and  Sweden,  re- 
turning together  late  in  1882.  His  last  trip  to 
Europe  was  made  in  the  summer  of  1885. 

[51] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

Meantime,  he  had  begun  what  he  named  the 
Cleveland  Educational  Bureau,  winter  courses  of 
lectures  by  prominent  persons,  with  little  books 
given  out  each  week  to  the  working  people. 
He  had  seen  the  People*s  Colleges  in  England 
do  great  good,  and  having  worked  hard  himself, 
his  heart  always  went  out  to  wage-earners. 
"  Education,"  he  wrote  to  his  wife,  "  is  the 
world^s  great  need.  The  whole  West  and  South 
are  eager  for  it.  The  North  always  was.  .  .  . 
My  life  is  full  of  good  purpose ;  my  heart  beats 
quickly  and  warm  for  you  and  for  struggling 
humanity." 

He  spoke  at  the  noon  hour  before  thousands 
of  working-men  in  the  shops  of  Cleveland,  and 
explained  that  they  could  hear  the  best  lectures, 
and  the  best  music,  for  about  eight  cents  each 
Saturday  night  instead  of  fifty  cents  or  a  dollar. 
No  seats  were  reserved,  and  they  came  by  the 
thousands,  often  with  their  dinner-pails,  waiting 
two  hours  for  the  exercises  to  begin,  and  were 
intelligent  and  grateful  listeners.  An  audience 
of  over  four    thousand  was    an    inspiring    sight. 

[52] 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

Sometimes  as  a  prelude  they  sang  patriotic  songs. 
The  little  pamphlets  on  history,  biography,  or 
science  were  prepared  with  great  care,  and  were 
bound  at  the  end  of  the  three  years  during  which 
the  Bureau  work  was  carried  on. 

Mr.  Bolton  always  hoped  to  see  a  permanent 
People's  Institute  with  a  large  building,  a  hall 
below,  pictures,  and  the  ideal  products  of  the 
factories  and  farms  in  the  upper  stories,  the 
whole  a  home  for  study,  and  an  object-lesson  to 
those  who  "earn  their  bread  by  the  sweat  of 
their  brow/'  If  the  financial  panic  had  not 
taken  away  his  means,  such  a  structure  with 
baths  for  the  poor,  and  lectures  and  concerts  to 
brighten  their  toil,  would  have  become  a  reality. 
He  also  wished  to  provide  a  home  for  friendless 
animals. 

After  seven  years  with  the  Cleveland  Machine 
Company,  Mr.  Bolton  resigned  his  position  in 
1883  ;  he  had  purchased  a  stereopticon  and  some 
lantern  slides  abroad,  and  had  decided  to  enter 
the  lecture  field.  The  following  spring,  at  the 
solicitation  of  a  friend,  he  went  to  Dakota  to  help 
[S3] 


CHARLES   E.   BOLTON 

start  the  town  of  Appomattox,  acting  as  an  in- 
vestor and  adviser,  not  as  a  settler.  While  it 
was  a  losing  venture  pecuniarily,  he  gained  much 
knowledge  of  the  West,  and  enjoyed  the  pioneer 
experiences,  as  is  shown  by  his  own  account. 
While  in  the  West  he  called  upon  the  Indian 
chief  Sitting  Bull,  and  smoked  with  him  the 
famous  red  stone  pipe  of  peace,  two  feet  long, 
"  carefully  concealing  the  fact  that  he  was  a 
novice  at  the  business." 

"In  April  or  May,  1883,"  Mr.  Bolton  wrote, 
"  I  joined  the  Bishop,  or  '  Fighting  Parson,'  as 
he  was  called  in  the  Civil  War,  and  a  half 
dozen  or  more  gentlemen,  and  we  left  Chicago 
for  the  great  Northwest.  We  passed  through 
Huron  on  the  James  River,  where  the  land 
office  of  the  Territory  of  Dakota  was  situated. 
Thence  north,  and  up  the  James  River  to  Aber- 
deen, where  we  arrived  after  dark.  We  were 
conducted  to  a  big  tent,  which  the  Bishop's  ad- 
vance agent  had  erected  to  protect  materials  and 
provision  already  forwarded.  It  was  cold  and 
raining  hard,    so  I  took  rooms  at  a  hotel.     In 

[54] 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

two  or  three  days  our  party  had  a  half  dozen 

wagons  loaded  with  building  material,  provisions 

for  man  and  beast,  etc.,  and  we  began  our  journey 

over  the  prairie  almost  due  west.     The  odor  of 

the  black  soil,  which  was  being  turned  by  many 

farmers  for  the  first  time    to    the  sun,  and    the 

bracing    prairie    air    quickened    our    pulse    and 

ambition.     For  many  miles  we  followed  the  trail 

of  others  who  had  dropped  out  here   and  there 

upon  unoccupied  land,  till  noon,  when  we  reached 

a  shack  hotel.     Here  the  tired  teams  were  fed, 

and  we  emptied  a  big  tin  dish  of  hot  baked  pork 

and  beans.     Then  we  journeyed  on,  and   forded 

with  difficulty  a  few  small  but  swollen  creeks,  and 

camped  at    night  under    the    wagons.     Two    or 

three  days  of  travel  and  observation  brought  us 

to  a  little  settlement  east  of  Roscoe,  which  to-day 

is  a  railway  junction,  and  here  we  even  staked  out 

a  few  farms  and  built  shacks.     But  the  restless 

Bishop  believed  in  the  Star  of  Empire,  and  so 

we  sold  our  squatter  rights  and  continued  on  our 

tedious    journey     in    a    southwesterly    direction 

toward    the    Missouri    River.     The  Bishop,  was 

[55] 


CHARLES   E.   BOLTON 

hoping  to  meet  his  brother  and  General  Gilchrist, 
who  had  gone  in  advance,  and  they  were  to  re- 
port as  to  the  lay  of  the  land,  and  the  prospects 
of  starting  a  town  somewhere. 

"  On  the  way  and  beyond  Roscoe  a  genuine 
Dakota  blizzard  swept  down  upon  us,  and 
hurriedly  we  built  an  eight-by-ten  shack  for  our- 
selves, and  a  windbreak  of  boards  for  the  horses. 

"  Later  the  General  was  conducted  by  scouts 
to  our  temporary  headquarters,  where  for  a  few 
days  we  escaped  the  storm  and  planned  further 
for  the  expedition. 

"  Soon  the  sun  came  to  our  aid,  converting 
even  the  grumblers  into  heroes,  and  guided  by  a 
General  and  a  Bishop,  part  of  the  expedition 
moved  forward,  while  I  was  left  to  bring  up  the 
rear.  We  took  down  the  shack,  loaded  the 
boards  on  the  last  wagon  and  started  on,  hoping 
to  overtake  the  advance  teams,  but  the  trail  was 
soon  lost,  and  our  prairie  schooner  sailed  by  the 
compass  southwest  till  the  sun  set,  when  we 
rested  and  fed  the  teams  by  a  small  brook ;  and 
then    we    again    went    forward.     I     hesitated    to 

[56] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

camp  in  the  open,  as  the  weather  was  very  bleak, 
and  so  I  encouraged  the  men  and  teams  till  after 
nine  o'clock.  I  led  the  way  with  a  lantern,  till 
the  men  and  teams  were  exhausted.  Bags  of  oats 
were  set  against  the  wagon  box,  and  the  horses 
were  tied  to  the  wheels,  while  we  tried  in  vain  to 
sleep  under  the  wagon,  for  the  wind  howled  all 
night  about  our  camp.  By  daylight  we  were 
again  on  the  move,  guided  by  a  compass  on  an 
open  prairie.  In  fact,  it  seemed  as  if  we  were  a 
hundred  miles  west  of  nowhere.  A  light  snow 
had  fallen,  which  obliterated  any  possible  chance 
of  finding  a  trail  in  the  prairie  grass  and  stubble. 
Not  a  building,  or  tree,  or  shrub  was  in  sight. 
A  broad,  barren  prairie  only,  and  as  boundless  as 
the  sea.  All  were  obliged  to  walk  to  keep  warm, 
and  the  load  was  all  the  horses  could  pull.  Sud- 
denly, about  nine  o'clock  on  Sunday  morning, 
we  came  in  sight  of  a  few  small  tents  covered 
with  snow,  and  sure  enough,  here  were  our  lost 
friends,  the  General,  the  Bishop,  and  all  our 
party.  They  thought  us  lost,  and  were  glad  to 
greet  us. 

[57] 


CHARLES   E.   BOLTON 

"  The  story  of  starting  on  a  small  creek  In  the 
southwestern  part  of  Potter  County,  the  town  of 
Appomattox  in  the  summer  of  1883,  would  fill 
a  book.  For  weeks  we  lived  in  common  in 
a  big  shack,  and  for  days  we  had  turtle  soup 
as  a  luxury,  a  big  land  tortoise  having  been 
captured.  We  scoured  the  country  to  learn  of 
its  value  and  possibilities.  The  General  planned 
a  railroad,  the  Bishop  a  church. 

"  It  was  a  summer  of  new  experiences  for  me ; 
although  it  was  a  case  of  roughing  it  from  start 
to  finish,  I  never  enjoyed  myself  more  or  felt 
better.  The  newness  of  everything,  the  altitude 
and  freshness  of  the  atmosphere,  the  excursions 
here  and  there  after  land,  and  to  the  Missouri 
River  for  fish  and  wood,  these,  added  to  the 
spirit  of  Anglo-Saxon  adventure,  made  the 
summer  of  1883  a  charming  vacation.'* 

Mr.  Bolton  seemed  especially  well  fitted  for  lec- 
turing. A  close  observer  with  retentive  memory, 
vivacious,  witty,  loving  the  beautiful,  an  omniv- 
orous reader  along  the  lines  of  science,  history, 
philosophy    and    sociology    (he    cared    little    for 

[58] 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

fiction),  happy  in  manner,  fluent  and  often  elo- 
quent in  expression,  enthusiastic  in  his  method 
of  imparting  information,  he  was  a  successful 
speaker  for  nearly  thirteen  years.  There  was 
much  of  hard  work  in  it,  almost  constant  travel, 
the  separation  from  loved  ones  which  he  so 
constantly  deplored,  but  he  won  thousands  of 
friends,  and  gave  comfort  and  pleasure  to  many. 
He  wrote  home:  "Just  in  from  lower  Egypt 
(Illinois),  as  jaded  as  soldiers  back  from  the 
wars.  Lecturing  is  a  serfdom  not  unlike  that 
of  a  Russian  subject  in  the  Czar's  army,  and 
quite  as  long  as  Alexander  III.  requires  service.'* 
He  spared  no  pains  to  keep  every  engage- 
ment. He  said,  "For  four  years,  I  think,  I 
never  missed  a  single  booking,  till  in  March, 
1888,  when  I  lost  four  dates  in  one  week  because 
of  the  great  blizzard  or  snow  blockade  in  New 
England.  These  dates  I  afterward  filled.  .  .  . 
Once  in  Michigan  we  came  to  a  broken  bridge. 
We  got  our  trunk  across,  and  agreed  to  pay 
seventy-five  dollars  for  an  engine  and  single  car. 
We  all  shoveled  coal,  we  wired  for  the  best  team 

[59] 


CHARLES   E.   BOLTON 

to  take  us  from  the  depot  twelve  miles  to  the 
hall,  and  wired  '  Hold  the  audience/  But  the 
wheezy,  worn-out  engine  and  our  efforts  failed 
us,  and  we  slept  that  night  miles  away  from 
Adrian  ;  of  course  the  committee  and  audience 
of  twelve  hundred  persons  were  disgusted  ;  we 
lost  the  fee,  fifty  dollars,  and  the  seventy-five 
dollar  railway  ride.     No  thanks  either." 

"In  the  West,"  he  said,  "  we  rode  one  night 
from  10.30  to  4  A.  M.,  then  all  day  on  freight 
trains,  and  saved  the  booking.  Then  we  were 
called  at  2  a.  m.  and  took  a  train  for  next  date. 
I  remember  in  New  England  that  I  was  once  '  a 
day  too  early,'  so  said  the  committee.  '  Well,* 
I  said,  ^  to-morrow  I  am  booked  elsewhere.*  So 
at  5  p.  M.  we  called  in  the  schoolboys,  wrote  out 
short  notices  and  sent  the  boys  all  over  town. 
Result,  the  largest  audience  for  the  committee 
of  the  season.  ...  In  Tennessee  we  had  plenty 
of  oxygen,  but  no  hydrogen  or  operator.  Had 
sent  him  for  gas  to  Memphis.  So  alone  I 
managed  the  lantern,  using  the  city  gas,  and  a 
poor  luminant  it  made,  the  pressure  being  low. 

[60] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

At  Lewiston,  Maine,  the  express  company  failed 
us  ;  we  told  the  truth  to  the  big  audience  in 
the  Opera  House,  and  they  voted  unanimously 
that  I  go  ahead  without  the  lantern.  So  I  told 
of  the  Red  Letter  Days  in  Europe,  and  next 
year  they  booked  me  again  by  telegraph,  the 
first  engagement  of  that  season."  Thus  resource- 
ful was  he,  and  equal  to  emergencies. 

In  spite  of  the  hardships  he  found  much  to 
enjoy.  November  29,  1884,  ^^  wrote:  "Stu- 
dents as  delegates  from  many  colleges  were  going 
to  Nashville  to  attend  a  secret  society  conven- 
tion. A  jollier  set  of  fellows  I  rarely  ever  saw 
except  back  in  college  days.  Entirely  forgot 
that  I  was  forty-three  years  old,  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  all,  and  we  told  stories,  talked 
philosophy  as  taught  now  in  colleges  (found  all 
believed  in  evolution),  and  laughed  and  sang 
songs  till  twelve  o'clock.  Many  of  the  students 
were  in  co-educational  colleges  and  firmly  believed 
in  co-education.  Woke  at  3  a.  m.  in  Dayton  and 
felt  fifty  years  old  !  " 

Mr.  Bolton  delivered  nearly  two  thousand  lec- 
[61] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

tures  upon  his  travels  in  Europe  and  America, 
including  much  of  history,  before  Teachers'  Asso- 
ciations, at  the  Peabody  Institute  in  Baltimore, 
before  colleges.  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tions, Chautauqua  Assemblies,  and  elsewhere. 
Some  of  his  lectures  were : 

London,  the  World's  Metropolis. 

England's  Golden  Age,  1 837-1 887. 

The  Scotch  and  Irish  of  To-day. 

Paris  and  the  French  Republic. 

The  Four  Napoleons. 

Beautiful  Switzerland. 

Romantic  Rhineland. 

Reunited  Germany,  and  Heroic  Louise. 

Lands  of  the  Midnight  Sun. 

Vienna  to  Constantinople. 

Russia  and  the  Romanoffs. 

America's  War  for  the  Union. 

The  White   City  Wonders  (The    Columbian 
Exposition). 

Yosemite- Yellowstone  Wonders. 

The  Italy  of  America  (California). 

The  lamented  General  S.  C.  Armstrong  said  : 
[62] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

"You    are   an   educator    of  the  people."      The 
South   spoke   of  him  as  "  highly  cultured,"  and 
the    North    liked    his    energy   and    enthusiasm. 
Everywhere  the  lectures  were  called   "  brilliant, 
entertaining,  and   intellectual,"  and   the  pictures 
"  beautiful  and  artistic,"  or  "  magnificent."     Mr. 
Bolton     had     great    faith    that    picture-teaching 
would    be  used  more  and  more.     He  wrote  in 
the    Independent    of    Santa    Barbara,    California : 
"  Pupils  who  graduate  at  our  high  schools  should 
not  only    know    well   the  history   of    their    own 
town,   state,  and    country,    but    they    ought,  by 
object    lessons,    to    be    so    taught    that    at    sight 
they  could   give  the  name  of  every  stone,  tree, 
and  flower,  and    the  name  of  every  fish  caught 
in  the  neighboring  river,  lake,  or  sea.    The  pupil 
who  has  learned  often  to  ask  the  what,  how,  and 
why  of  things,  to  give  close  attention,  and  keenly 
observe,    is    on    the    road    to    great   usefulness. 
What     can    the    public    schools    do  to    aid   our 
children   in    knowing    what    our    cities   contain  ? 
We    think    the    answer  is  readily  found    in    the 
liberal  use    of  the  magic   lantern   in    the  teach- 

[63] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

ing  of  geography,  history,  science,  and  art. 
Formerly  the  lantern,  like  the  telephone,  was 
a  toy  in  the  hands  of  children.  To-day,  the 
telephone  and  lantern  have  come  to  the  front 
as  helpers  of  enlightenment.  New  York  State 
has  appropriated  eight  thousand  dollars  for 
lanterns  for  her  nine  Normal  Schools.  Cornell 
University  uses  four  large  lanterns  in  the  teach- 
ing of  her  fifteen  hundred  young  men.  Last 
winter,  in  cosmopolitan  Chicago,  twelve  thousand 
people  attended  a  single  course  of  illustrated 
travels.  To  accommodate  so  vast  an  audience 
each  lecture  was  repeated  five  times.  Our  public 
school  education  will  not  be  complete  till  every 
high  school  is  able  by  its  own  teachers  to  furnish 
twenty  or  more  lectures,  illustrating  well  the 
points  of  interest  at  home  and  abroad.  Not  one 
per  cent,  of  our  people  can  travel  over  either 
America  or  Europe.  Why  not,  then,  by  aid 
of  lantern  and  photographic  slide,  reveal  to  eye 
as  well  as  ear  the  valuable  things  of  earth,  and 
thus  send  boys  and  girls  into  the  world  better 
equipped  to  do  life's  work  ?  " 

[64] 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

New  York  State  appropriates  twenty-five  thou- 
sand dollars  annually  that  free  lectures,  mostly 
illustrated,  may  be  given  to  "free  common 
schools,  artisans,  mechanics  and  other  citizens." 
If  Ohio  had  followed  this  example,  how  gladly 
would  Mr.  Bolton  have  contributed  his  lectures 
and  pictures  for  such  lasting  benefit  to  the 
people. 

Mr.  Bolton  spoke  extemporaneously  before 
hundreds  of  schools  without  pay,  giving  practical 
talks  on  reading,  the  care  of  the  body,  character, 
etc.,  and  lived  over  again  his  college  life  as  he 
met  college  boys. 

When  he  learned  that  some  students  from 
Western  Reserve  University,  Cleveland,  were  to 
give  a  concert  at  the  Mount  Dora  Chautauqua, 
Florida,  where  he  was  lecturing,  he  urged  the 
people  to  surprise  them  with  pyramids  of  oranges 
and  an  abundance  of  flowers  on  the  platform, 
and  helped  to  prepare  a  welcome  that  they 
never  forgot. 

He  had  acquired  facility  in  speaking,  in  part 
through  an  excellent  plan  adopted  at  his  college. 

5  [65] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

Each  week  a  debate  was  held  on  a  subject  of 
general  interest.  Eight  names  were  drawn  by- 
lot,  and  a  student  could  take  either  side.  This 
continued  till  the  whole  class  had  taken  part. 
Those  making  the  most  improvement  during 
the  term  received  the  Alpheus  Hardy  prizes  of 
thirty  and  twenty  dollars.  "  These  debates," 
said  Mr.  Bolton,  "  were  fine  tests  of  our  general 
reading,  memories,  and  ability  to  talk  on  our 
feet."  It  was  a  pleasure  to  go  back  to  Amherst 
College  and  speak  before  faculty  and  students. 
When  he  lectured  in  Holyoke,  Massachusetts, 
he  brought  his  fond  and  pleased  mother,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-two,  from  her  home  across 
the  river  in  South  Hadley  Falls  to  hear  him. 
She  died  two  years  later,  October  28,  1888,  sin- 
cerely mourned  by  all  who  knew  her.  When 
Mr.  Bolton  learned  from  a  telegram,  just  as  he 
was  beginning  a  lecture  at  the  Soldiers*  Home, 
Hampton,  Virginia,  that  his  mother  was  dying, 
he  was  unable  to  complete  the  lecture  and  was 
carried  ill  to  his  hotel,  where  he  remained  for 
several  days.     The  affection  between  mother  and 

[66] 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

son  was  very  strong.  His  father  and  only  sister, 
Ella  (Mrs.  Richards),  both  died  nearly  nine  years 
later,  in  the  spring  of  1897. 

Mr.  Bolton  made  four  trips  to  the  Pacific 
Coast,  writing  often  for  the  press,  and  sending 
back  graphic  and  charming  letters  to  his  family. 
Some  extracts  from  these  his  son,  while  he 
was  at  Harvard  University,  printed  in  a  small 
pamphlet,  in  1892;  it  bears  the  title  "Notes 
from  letters  written  while  lecturing  in  the 
Northwest":  — 

"On  cars.  May  4,  1890.  The  ride  from 
Bozeman  to  Helena  and  Spokane  is  interesting 
and  picturesque.  Among  the  Rockies  is  Mon- 
tana. Twenty-five  thousand  in  Helena ;  growing 
fast.  It  is  built  in  a  gulch  from  which  early 
gold-diggers  took  seventeen  million  dollars  in 
gold.  Many  new  and  costly  blocks  and  homes. 
Hotels  at  Helena  are  fine.  Twelve  years  ago 
the  Congregational  Church  paid  for  a  lot  at  Spo- 
kane thirty-three  dollars  and  thirty-three  cents. 
Last  August  they  sold  it  for  twenty-nine  thou- 
sand dollars. 

[67] 


CHARLES   E.   BOLTON 

"On  the  Mojave  Desert.  In  sight  are  long, 
high  ranges  that  melt  into  soft  skies.  Sage- 
brush and  struggling  palms,  like  scrubby  pines, 
cover  a  broad  old  sea-bed.  Sun  warm  and 
blinding.  A  breeze  almost  removes  my  eye- 
glasses. We  now  and  then  kodak  a  sage-brush, 
a  bayonet  palm,  or  sub-tropical  landscape.  Reach 
Santa  Barbara  at  7  p.  m.  Ten  thousand  people 
at  Santa  Barbara,  a  mixture  of  all  nations,  with 
large  sprinkling  from  New  England.  No  won- 
der that  my  classmate  calls  this  spot  the  '  Gate- 
way to  Heaven.' 

"  Sacramento,  June  i,  1890.  I  have  just  come 
from  a  Chinese  mission.  Several  joined  the 
church.  There  are  one  thousand  in  the  Cali- 
fornia churches.  Heard  them  sing  and  pray  in 
Chinese." 

Mr.  Bolton  said :  "  The  good  people  of  the 
Pacific  Coast  seem  to  be  pursuing  a  phantom. 
It  is  true  that  the  Chinese,  two  hundred  thou- 
sand strong,  have  entered  the  Golden  Gate. 
But  thrice  the  total  Asiatic  immigration  of 
twenty-five  years  come  annually  from  Europe 
[68] 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

to  America.  By  hasty  decision  we  dishonored 
a  treaty  forced  by  us  upon  China,  imperilling 
the  lives  of  Americans  in  the  Empire,  and  a 
commerce  with  the  Chinese  rich  in  its  future 
promise.  .  .  .  Faithful  John  Chinaman  on  our 
shores  furnishes  a  problem  for  Christian  states- 
men to  solve." 

"  Redondo,  California,  1890.  Redondo  Ho- 
tel. In  sight  now  is  the  powerful  deep  blue 
Pacific,  whose  waves  wash  Australia,  Japan, 
China,  and  India.  People  are  bathing  on  the 
fine  white  sand.  A  boat  floats  lazily  at  the 
wharf  in  the  long  swells  of  the  sea;  white  surf 
up  and  down  the  beach." 

All  these  years  Mr.  Bolton  kept  his  courage 
and  looked  forward  toward  a  home  and  a  com- 
petency. He  said:  "I  believe  we  shall  weather 
the  era  of  uneventful  things  and  enter  port 
with  colors  flying.  Win  we  must  and  shall, 
or  I  shall  rest  uneasily  in  my  grave,  because  I 
know  I  have  qualities  that  you  thought  I  pos- 
sessed in  college  days.  I  shall  attempt  again  to 
marshal  them  on  some  field  of  action  with  large 

[69] 


CHARLES   E.   BOLTON 

possibilities  in  it.  At  fifty  I  shall  try  to  grasp 
the  wisdom  and  experience,  and  act  as  if  I  were 
thirty." 

Mr.  Bolton's  letters  were  always  full  of  in- 
spiration and  hope.  "  With  the  grandeur  of  his- 
tory, science,  and  humanity  about  us  on  every 
side,"  he  wrote,  "  how  stately  and  noble  ought 
every  thought  and  deed  to  be.  But  how  little 
we  accomplish,^  especially  in  a  business  life.  Yet 
I  love  it  and  shall  make  a  success  in  and  by  it. 

"  Ways  have  always  opened  to  those  who 
are  fitted  to  enter.  ...  I  am  full  of  spirit  and 
hope.  So  tire  of  simply  money-getting  at 
times,  and  yet  it  is  the  key  to  two-thirds  of 
earthly  existence.  .  .  .  Let  your  whole  soul  go 
out  in  prose  and  poetry  for  the  uplifting  of  hu- 
manity. .  .  .  All  that  have  come  to  fame  have 
had  exalted  ideals  and  subjects." 

In  1891  several  acres  of  land  were  purchased 
in  East  Cleveland  on  a  hillside,  and  an  unpreten- 
tious home  built  in  the  midst  of  beautiful  shade- 
trees  with  a  broad  view  of  Lake  Erie.  Mr. 
Bolton  called  it  "  Elm-oak,"  because  of  a  grand 

[70] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

old  elm  and  several  oaks.  He  took  the  greatest 
comfort  in  this  home  for  the  last  ten  years  of  his 
life.  He  planted  fruit  trees,  plum,  pear,  and 
peach,  and  lived  to  see  the  fruitage.  His  rose- 
beds  were  a  delight  to  him.  Every  shrub  and 
tree  had  a  place  in  his  heart.  The  graceful  maple 
that  droops  its  branches  to  the  ground,  the  tulip 
tree,  the  white  birches,  and  the  evergreens  were 
all  treasured.  A  great  boulder  weighing  several 
tons,  furrowed  by  glaciers,  was  also  a  delight,  for 
he  had  always  been  fond  of  geology  since  his  col- 
lege days  in  New  England. 

He  wrote  to  his  wife  when  absent:  "I  help 
the  robins  and  bluebirds  to  fix  up  nature.  More 
than  ever  delighted  with  our  home.  It's  a  blue- 
bird's nest  or  box,  with  the  song  absent  till  you 
return." 

Over  a  bridge  or  porch  across  a  ravine  adjoin- 
ing the  house  was  a  hooded  bell  like  those  seen 
in  Switzerland,  and  in  the  hood  the  bluebirds 
built  their  nests.  When  they  brought  food  to 
their  young,  Mr.  Bolton  would  leave  the  porch 
until  they  had  come  and  gone ;  but  finally  they 

[71] 


CHARLES   E.   BOLTON 

learned  that  they  would  not  be  molested,  and 
came  as  freely  as  though  no  one  sat  there.  No 
rabbit  or  bird  or  even  ant-hill,  "  their  homes  are 
so  wonderfully  made,"  he  said,  was  ever  harmed 
on  his  grounds.  Even  our  many  cats  seemed  to 
know  that  we  fed  English  sparrows  in  the  winter 
and  pretty  robins  in  the  spring  because  we  wished 
them  to  stay.  Mr.  Bolton  wrote  :  "  We  counted 
nine  in  the  colony  of  English  sparrows.  They 
sleep  nights  in  the  honeysuckle  vine  at  the 
back  door.  We  put  warm  clothes  there  for  the 
birds,  and  we  put  out  grain." 

Again  he  wrote  of  our  beautiful  St.  Bernard 
dogs,  one  of  whom  he  named  Windermere : 
"  Bernie  has  done  only  two  wrong  things  since 
you  left.  Mary  found  the  dog  asleep  one  morn- 
ing on  the  lounge  with  head  on  the  tidy.  This 
morning  asleep  on  her  bed  back  of  her  next  the 
wall.  If  bark  would  burn  these  two  dogs  would 
keep  Mary^  in  fuel.  .  .  .  Have  bought  candy 
for  Bernie's  Christmas." 

1  Mary  Johnson,  the  faithful  Dane  who  lived  with  us  many- 
years. 

[72] 


IN  THE   GROUNDS  AT  ELM-OAK 

P'roni  a   photograph  taken   in  August   1901 

Bv  a  friend 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

He  was  fond  of  animals.  He  purchased  two 
tiger  kittens  of  two  children,  giving  a  silver  dol- 
lar for  each,  to  please  the  little  owners.  One 
died,  and  the  other  he  called  his  "  Dollar  Gray.'* 
In  the  last  picture  taken  of  Mr.  Bolton,  a  few 
weeks  before  his  death,  his  wife  has  in  her  arms 
"  Baby,"  the  half-grown  daughter  of  "  Dollar 
Gray,"  and  he  is  holding  his  eye-glasses  before 
the  kitten  to  arrest  her  attention  for  the  picture. 
She  always  sat  on  his  left  arm  while  he  read  his 
newspaper  in  the  morning.  When  his  wife  told 
him  that  a  woman  had  turned  out  into  the  snow 
a  cat  and  five  kittens,  he  said,  '^  Bring  them  all 
home." 

He  would  never  see  a  horse  abused.  One  day 
when  he  and  his  pastor  were  riding,  they  met  a 
man  whipping  his  donkey  who  was  unable  to 
draw  a  load  up  a  hill.  Alighting,  each  man 
put  his  shoulder  to  a  wheel,  and  the  poor  animal 
thus  encouraged  carried  up  the  load  easily. 

Understanding  real  estate  transactions  from 
previous  years,  Mr.  Bolton  was  fitted  to  enter 
the  business  again ;  he   bought  a  tract  of  land, 

[73] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

opened  streets  through  it,  and  then  another  allot- 
ment, and  made  his  work  a  success.  But  busi- 
ness alone  did  not  satisfy  him.  The  reading  of 
everything  useful  went  on  as  before.  He  read 
on  the  street  cars,  in  steam  cars,  everywhere. 
When  asked  by  his  wife  what  he  would  like  for 
a  birthday  present,  he  replied,  "  Another  set  of 
Emerson,"  the  former  set  which  she  had  given 
him  having  been  read  and  re-read. 

Almost  the  last  book  which  he  read  at  the 
seashore,  sitting  on  the  rocks  at  Nahant,  was  "  A 
Brief  History  of  Eastern  Asia,"  by  L  C.  Hannah, 
M.  A.,  of  Trinity  College,  England.  He  marked 
carefully  every  book  he  read.  He  made  clip- 
pings from  his  many  newspapers  and  magazines, 
keeping  them  in  large  envelopes.  Some  of  these 
he  used,  and  hoped  to  use  more  in  the  leisure  to 
which  he  looked  forward,  but  which  never  came. 
He  kept  a  tabulated  list  of  nearly  one  hundred 
subjects,  on  which  he  gathered  cuttings, — agricul- 
ture, astronomy,  banks,  botany,  Cleveland,  china, 
evolution,  education,  electricity,  geology,  health, 
inventions,    light,    labor,    law,    minerals,    music, 

[74] 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

money,  politics,  religion,  railways,  real  estate, 
silver,  temperance,  tariff,  trusts,  young  men,  and 
many  more. 

While  interested  in  all  countries  and  all  great 
questions,  —  he  worked  for  and  rejoiced  in  the 
freedom  of  Cuba,  —  he  was  devoted  to  America 
and  her  interests.  He  was  greatly  desirous  for 
a  ship  canal  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the 
Atlantic  Ocean. 

"  The  old  Erie  Canal,"  he  said,  "  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty-one  miles  in  length,  that  cost  the 
State  fifty  million  dollars,  and  paid  into  the  State 
treasury  thirty-four  million  dollars  more  than  its 
total  cost  up  to  the  time  when  tolls  were  abol- 
ished, has  also  saved  for  the  people  hundreds  of 
millions  of  dollars  in  the  reduced  cost  of  trans- 
portation, by  its  control  of  East  and  West  trunk 
railway  rates.  It  is  well  known  that  rail  tariffs 
are  about  doubled  between  the  lakes  and  tide- 
water during  the  close  of  navigation. 

"The  railways  of  Pennsylvania  bought  the 
canal  property  of  that  State,  and  so  prevented 
competition.     The  citizens  of  New  York,  more 

[75] 


CHARLES   E.  BOLTON 

jealous  of  their  rights,  have  repeatedly  declared 
that  '  their  canals  shall  not  be  leased,  sold,  or 
otherwise  disposed  of,  but  shall  remain  the  prop- 
erty and  under  the  control  of  the  State  forever/ 
.  .  .  A  great  national  need  to-day  is  enough 
American  tonnage  to  carry  our  immense  surplus 
produce  from  tide-water  to  Europe,  and  when 
possible  from  the  lakes  via  a  ship  canal,  and  so 
save  an  annual  drainage  of  over  a  hundred  mil- 
lion dollars  paid  to  foreign  ships.  .  .  .  The  wheat 
of  the  great  West  is  handicapped  by  the  fact 
that  ocean  tramps,  not  half  the  size  of  the  lake 
boats,  carry  two  competing  bushels  of  Argentina 
grain  to  Liverpool  for  the  carriage  paid  from 
Dakota  to  the  river  Mersey." 

He  knew  many  public  men,  and  was  a  life- 
long and  ardent  Republican.  When  Blaine  and 
Logan  were  nominated  for  the  Presidency  and 
Vice-Presidency  at  Chicago  in  1884,  he  was  a 
deeply  interested  spectator.  "  Thurston,  McKin- 
ley,  Lodge,  Roosevelt,  and  scores  of  other  dis- 
tinguished persons  had  been  seen,  heard,  and 
cheered,"  he  wrote.    "A  blind  man,  the  silver- 

[76] 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

haired  Judge  West,  of  Ohio,  was  led  to  the 
front.  While  seated,  he  eloquently  voiced  the 
demands  of  the  impatient  throng.  Though 
often  interrupted  by  applause,  yet  he  refrained 
from  mention  of  Blaine^s  name  till  the  last,  and 
then  the  audience  went  wild.  The  people 
cheered  and  shouted,  some  stood  on  chairs  and 
waved  coats,  hats,  and  canes,  women  fluttered 
their  handkerchiefs,  and  broke  parasols  and  fans 
in  uncontrollable  enthusiasm."  After  the  nom- 
ination, "cannon  boomed,  and  the  vast  crowds 
outside  caught  up  the  cry,  and  soon  Chicago 
and  the  nation  awakened  into  applause." 

All  through  the  campaign  Mr.  Bolton  took  an 
active  part,  by  speaking,  by  raising  money,  scat- 
tering pamphlets,  and  arranging  for  great  tent 
meetings  in  which  well-known  men  addressed 
immense  audiences.  In  the  great  tent,  Blaine, 
Logan,  McKinley,  General  Hawley,  and  others 
spoke  to  more  than  ten  thousand  people  gathered 
at  each  meeting.  An  attractive  pamphlet  was 
prepared,  "Facts  and  Songs  for  the  People," 
with  pictures  of  the  candidates,  the  issues  of  the 

{77\ 


CHARLES   E.   BOLTON 

campaign  and  patriotic  songs,  and  twenty  thou- 
sand of  these  were  given  away  daily.  "  It  was  a 
tiresome  task,"  said  Mr.  Bolton,  "  but  it  proved 
a  great  attraction,  and  no  doubt  helped  to  swell 
the  Ohio  vote  for  Blaine.  .  .  .  Most  Repub- 
licans believed  that,  notwithstanding  the  parson's 
crazy  alliteration,  '  Rum,  Romanism  and  Rebel- 
lion,' Mr.  Blaine  was  honestly  elected  the  29th 
president  of  the  United  States." 

Mr.  Bolton  also  spoke  earnestly  for  McKinley 
in  1896,  and  wrote  much  for  the  press  on  "The 
Two-fold  Issue  of  To-day,  Sound  Money,  and 
Protection."  The  "  silver  craze,"  as  he  called  it, 
received  his  strenuous  opposition.  He  again 
worked  in  1900  for  President  McKinley,  whom 
he  knew  and  honored  as  an  upright,  just,  able, 
and  conscientious  man.  Mr.  Bolton  condensed 
the  platforms  of  the  two  great  parties  into  about 
one  thousand  words  each,  and  this  clear  and 
concise  document  was  much  used  in  the  campaign. 

In  the  summer  of  1888,  Mr.  Bolton  had  de- 
sired to  enter  Congress  from  the  Twenty-first 
district  of  Ohio,  and  as  the  popular-vote  plan 
[78] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

instead  of  the  usual  convention  and  delegate 
method  had  been  promised  by  three  of  the  five 
members  of  the  Congressional  Committee,  he 
decided  to  try  with  the  four  other  aspirants. 
The  working  people  especially  would  be  his 
friends  on  account  of  the  good  done  them 
by  the  Educational  Bureau.  The  popular-vote 
plan  was  not  adopted,  however,  and  having  no 
time  to  secure  delegates  he  withdrew  from  the 
competition. 

In  the  summer  of  1898,  ten  years  later,  Mr. 
Bolton  came  forward  as  a  candidate  from  the 
Twentieth  district,  in  which  his  home.  East 
Cleveland,  was  situated.  There  were  five  other 
candidates,  but  the  papers  spoke  highly  of  Mr. 
Bolton  as  "  a  man  of  ideas,"  "  a  man  for  the 
people,"  and  "  a  general  public  benefactor."  The 
press  said  it  "  was  the  most  hotly  contested 
congressional  campaign  for  many  years."  Mr. 
Bolton  received  a  creditable  vote,  but  Medina 
County  stood  by  its  candidate  and  won  the 
honor. 

Since  Mr.  Bolton  had  settled  in  his  home  in 
[79] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

1892,  indeed  since  he  came  to  Cleveland  in  1865, 
he  had  been  laboring  in  many  ways  for  his 
adopted  city,  to  which  he  was  warmly  attached. 
He  wrote  and  published  many  newspaper  articles, 
some  of  which  he  gathered  into  a  pamphlet  in 
1899,  called  "A  Few  Civic  Problems  of  Greater 
Cleveland,"  including  chapters  on  Docks,  Sew- 
age Disposal,  The  Mediterranean  and  Great 
Lakes  Compared,  etc. 

When  the  chapel  of  Windermere  Presbyterian 
Church  was  completed,  he  became  one  of  the 
charter  members,  planted  vines  about  the  build- 
ing, and  gave  it  a  bell.  At  the  Christmas  festiv- 
ities no  one  enjoyed  the  cheer  of  the  Sunday 
School  children  more  than  he. 

When  it  was  urged  that  Euclid  Avenue  be 
made  a  part  of  the  park  system,  —  taking  off  the 
street  cars  and  putting  them  on  a  side  street,  and 
making  a  boulevard  for  carriages,  —  with  his 
usual  zeal  he  spoke  successfully  for  the  common 
people  who,  he  claimed,  enjoyed  a  street-car  ride 
on  a  beautiful  street,  and  who  in  fact  owned  the 
public  highways  as  fully  as  do  the  rich. 

[80] 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

When  bills  were  introduced  in  the  General 
Assembly  to  annex  by  force  the  outlying  villages 
to  Cleveland,  Mr.  Bolton's  friends  gathered  in 
his  office,  formed  an  "  Emergency  Committee," 
and  twice  at  least  defeated  the  projectors  of  the 
plan.  Mr.  Bolton  denied  "the  right  of  any 
municipality  in  the  State  to  farm  out  its  own 
indebtedness  upon  a  contiguous  municipality. 
This  is  emphatically  taxation  without  representa- 
tion," he  said,  "  and  we  deny  the  right  of  the  city 
to  ask  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Ohio,  or  that 
the  Legislature  can  grant,  that  annexation  shall 
take  place  without  the  consent  of  a  majority  of 
the  voters  resident  in  the  territory  annexed." 

Saloons  were  not  wanted  in  the  village  of 
East  Cleveland  to  blight  and  destroy.  In  every 
piece  of  property  sold  by  Mr.  Bolton,  it  was 
stated  that  no  liquor  should  ever  be  sold  on 
the  premises. 

He  was  foremost  in  every  improvement:  the 
widening  and  the  paving  of  streets ;  the  planting 
of  shade  trees  and  beautifying  of  lawns ;  obtain- 
ing gas  and  water  and  free  delivery  of  mail ;  look- 

6  [8i] 


CHARLES    E.   BOLTON 

ing  carefully  after  the  health  of  the  people,  and 
studying  the  various  methods  of  sewage  disposal 
in  many  countries  —  England,  Germany,  France, 
and  the  United  States.  He  urged  that  Cleveland 
should  not  discharge  daily  fifty  million  gallons 
of  sewage  into  Lake  Erie,  but  treat  it  chemically. 
He  said,  "  Paris  has  decided  to  purchase  ample 
acreage  upon  which  to  purify  all  its  sewage.  The 
estimated  cost  of  this  new  work  is  six  million 
dollars.  .  .  .  Berlin's  sewage  is  conveyed  by  grav- 
ity to  a  pumping  station,  and  then  lifted  from 
seventy  to  one  hundred  feet  to  the  city's  sew- 
age farms.  There  are  thirty-eight  places  on  the 
River  Thames  and  the  River  Lea  where  the 
sewage  is  treated,  and  crude  sewage  is  never 
allowed  to  run  into  the  streams.  Birmingham, 
with  a  half  million  of  population,  treats  its  sew- 
age chemically,  and  then  applies  the  effluent  to 
meadow  lands." 

The  East  Cleveland  Sewage  Disposal  Works 
adopting  the  methods  of  the  late  Colonel  George 
E.  Waring,  Jr.,  forcing  air  through  porous  beds 
of  clay,  gravel,  etc.,  received  his  close  attention. 

[82] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

Mr.  Bolton  was  elected  mayor  of  the  village 
of  East  Cleveland  in  April,  1899,  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^^ 
position  for  two  years,  declining  re-election  in 
1901.  He  had  great  executive  ability.  He 
appointed  committees,  and  did  the  work  if  others 
failed  to  do  it.  He  suggested  and  helped  to 
organize  the  Village  Mayors'  League,  and  the 
mayors  of  Cuyahoga  County  met  monthly  and 
dined  together,  discussing  the  best  plans  for  their 
respective  towns. 

One  matter  in  which  he  was  especially  inter- 
ested was  that  Cleveland  should  have  a  system  of 
docks  in  her  outer  harbor  such  as  he  had  seen 
and  studied  in  the  old  world,  at  London,  Liver- 
pool, Glasgow,  Antwerp,  and  elsewhere,  and  such 
as  New  York  City  had  obtained  by  condemning 
the  land  and  paying  a  fair  price  for  that  which 
she  had  appropriated. 

He  wrote  articles  for  the  newspapers,  and  pre- 
pared maps  and  plans  after  consulting  with  able 
engineers,  trying  to  awaken  the  people  to  the  mil- 
lions of  dollars  at  stake  in  the  title  to  their  "  lake 
front "  in  the  coming  centuries.     "  The  plan,"  he 

[83] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

said,  "which  I  propose,  exhibits  twelve  docks, 
each  sixteen  hundred  feet  in  length  and  six  hun- 
dred feet  in  width.  Each  dock  admits  of  several 
railway  tracks  and  the  storage  of  vast  tonnage  of 
ores,  coal,  and  other  merchandise.  The  total 
length  of  the  new  wharfage  front  thus  acquired 
is  nearly  forty  thousand  feet,  or  about  seven  and 
one-half  miles.  Twelve  slips,  including  the  river 
entrance,  are  exhibited,  and  each  slip,  from  bulk- 
head line  to  pierhead,  is  sixteen  hundred  feet  in 
length  by  two  hundred  feet  in  width,  and  has  a 
capacity  of  docking  a  half-dozen  of  the  largest 
lake  freighters.  Thus  a  total  of  seventy-two 
modern  vessels  at  the  same  time  could  load  or 
unload  their  cargoes.  Ore  conveyors  will  carry 
the  ore  from  the  vessels  three  hundred  feet  or 
more.  The  twelve  docks  have  an  area  of  about 
twenty-three  acres  each,  or  a  total  of  two  hundred 
and  seventy-five  acres,  and  a  storage  capacity 
estimated  at  one  million  tons  per  dock.  Spalls  or 
refuse  rock  from  neighboring  quarries,  slag  from 
mills,  and  dirt  from  street  and  cellars  could  also 
be  used  to  fill  in  the   piers  and   the   large   area 

[84] 


/ 


o  o 

S    O 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

from  the  bulkhead  line  to  the  shore  line.  Suffi- 
cient land  will  thus  be  reclaimed  for  thirty  railroad 
tracks,  as  shown  on  the  plan,  which  should  be 
held  as  free  territory  to  be  leased  to  or  used  by 
all  railroads  in  loading  and  unloading  ores,  coal, 
and  other  freights.  Also  enough  made  land 
would  be  secured  for  a  margin  dock  roadway 
two  hundred  feet  in  width,  which  could  be  used 
for  transfer  and  traffic,  and,  if  extended  in  the 
future,  to  connect  Gordon,  Clinton,  Lake  View, 
and  Edgewater  parks.  Not  a  cent  will  be  added 
to  the  taxpayers'  burdens  if  the  outer  harbor  is 
properly  developed  and  managed  the  same  as  in 
New  York  City. 

"  Following  the  example  furnished  by  the  city 
of  New  York,  why  ought  not  Cleveland,  when 
public  good  demands  it,  to  secure  from  the  Ohio 
Legislature  the  power  to  exercise  the  right  of 
eminent  domain  ?  '  Eminent  domain  is  the  supe- 
riority, or  dominion  of  the  sovereign  power,  over 
all  the  property  within  the  State,  by  which  it  is 
entitled  to  appropriate  by  constitutional  agency 
any  part  necessary  to  the  public  good,  compensa- 

[85] 


i  \v 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

tion  being  given  for  what  is  taken/  providing,  of 
course,  that  satisfactory  proof  of  valid  ownership 
is  estabUshed." 

Concerning  the  proposed  cost  of  the  harbor 
improvement,  probably  twenty  million  dollars, 
he  said:  "When  the  city  has  the  right  to  con- 
demn certain  lake  front  properties,  at  the  outset 
she  need  not  acquire  more  frontage  than  can  be 
paid  for,  profitably  improved  or  leased,  say 
i,ooo  feet  more  or  less  east  and  west  of  the  river 
entrance.  As  the  demand  increases.  New  York 
condemns  and  improves  her  water  front." 

Mr.  Bolton  could  not  bear  to  see  Cleveland 
missing  her  great  opportunity.  "  It  interests  a 
Clevelander,'*  he  said,  "  to  be  reminded  that 
100,000  diiferent  kinds  of  articles  are  made  in 
2,500  factories  at  Cleveland,  that  these  facto- 
ries employ  60,000  wage-earners  and  over 
$100,000,000  of  capital,  and  that  Cleveland 
already  leads  in  numerous  lines  of  manufactures ; 
that  she  is  the  centre  of  the  iron-ore  industry, 
the  largest  ship-building  port,  and  one  of  the 
largest  ship-owning  ports  in  the  United  States. 
[86] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

It  is  pleasant  to  know  that  the  electric  cars  will 
take  you  to  a  semi-circle  of  very  beautiful  parks, 
and  to  all  parts  of  a  city  of  400,000  people,  even 
to  all  the  neighboring  towns,  and  that  150  steam 
trains  daily  enter  or  leave  Cleveland. 

"  It  is  also  encouraging  to  be  told  that  23^ 
vessels  of  a  combined  tonnage  of  336,000  tons 
are  owned  and  managed  in  Cleveland.  But  it 
does  little  good  to  state  that  60  per  cent,  of  the 
Lake  Superior  iron-ore  output  enters  the  Cleve- 
land district,  and  that  the  city  is  situated  at  the 
apex  of  the  largest  and  best  field  of  coal  in 
the  world,  unless  we  remember  that  nearly  five- 
sixths  of  the  18,500,000  tons  of  ore  passes  us 
by  to  enrich  other  cities,  chiefly  because  the  front 
door  of  Cleveland  is  practically  closed  to  lake 
transportation  and  to  the  wealth  of  the  great 
Northwest.  .  .  . 

"The  large  lake  fleets  of  Rockefeller,  Car- 
negie, M.  A.  Hanna  &  Co.,  and  others,  sought 
harbor  facilities  elsewhere,  not  because  of  hostility 
to  Cleveland,  but  chiefly  because  of  the  lack  of 
improved  docking  capacity  at  this  port.     For  the 

[87] 


CHARLES   E.  BOLTON 

same  reason  Cleveland  will  continue  to  lose  her 
lake  commerce  and  other  trade  unless  she  soon 
provides  suitable  docks. 

"  The  fact  that  the  ownership  and  manage- 
ment of  mines,  mills,  vessels,  shipbuilding,  and 
docks  is  being  concentrated  in  the  hands  of  a  few 
men,  who  sooner  or  later  must  decide  where  the 
Lake  Superior  ores  can  be  most  cheaply  con- 
verted into  pig  iron  and  steel  billets,  gives  cause 
for  alarm  lest  Cleveland  cease  to  be  one  of  the 
great  centres  of  iron  ores  and  their  products. 
Rapidly  the  lake  traffic  is  drifting  to  other  ports, 
because  Cleveland's  ample  outer  harbor  is  not 
properly  docked.  Unless  Cleveland  can  con- 
trive to  be  a  centre  of  cheap  raw  material,  then 
other  localities  will  certainly  attract  the  best  of 
her  present  manufactures,  viz.,  pig  iron,  steel, 
steel  ships,  heavy  forgings,  car  wheels,  wire,  nuts 
and  bolts,  hardware  of  many  kinds,  including  wire 
nails,  screws,  steel  springs,  axes,  etc." 

Mr.  Bolton  spoke  before  the  Tippecanoe 
Club  of  which  he  was  a  member,  and  urged  them 
to  appoint  a  committee  of  five  to  confer  with  the 

[88] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

directors  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  on  this 
subject,  and  this  was  done. 

For  many  years  there  had  been  litigation  with 
regard  to  the  lake  front,  prominent  railroads 
claiming  it.  Honorable  James  Lawrence,  former 
Attorney-General  for  the  State  and  Director  of 
Law  for  the  city,  urged  that  the  case  be  appealed 
to  the  higher  courts.  When  the  Council  seemed 
about  to  surrender  the  city's  claim  to  the  rail- 
roads, Mr.  Bolton  could  not  rest.  It  was  in  his 
thoughts  at  his  table  with  his  family,  and  with 
friends  on  the  street,  or  as  he  rode  to  his  office 
on  the  electric  railways.  He  spoke  earnestly  be- 
fore the  City  Council.  He  is  reported  by  the 
press  as  saying:  "The  railways  after  getting 
control  of  this  property  will  become  despotic. 
They  will  practically  own  the  entire  harbor.  We 
don't  know  where  they  will  end.  .  .  .  Who  are 
my  clients  ?  I  represent  400,000  people  living 
in  Cleveland.  I  represent  55,000  men  who  are 
now  in  the  factories.  I  represent  55,000  children 
in  the  public  schools,  and  millions  of  people  still 
unborn.      You  ask  what  I  would  do  with  this 

[89] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

predicament?  I  would  have  the  next  Legisla- 
ture pass  a  law  authorizing  the  city  to  condemn 
the  property  in  dispute.  Only  yesterday  I  had 
dinner  with  the  leading  counsel  of  the  Lake 
Shore  Railroad  Company.  I  asked  him  whether 
the  Legislature  could  not  do  this.  He  answered  : 
*  Absolutely  it  can,  and  I  have  often  wondered 
why  it  was  not  done  long  ago.'  New  York  City 
in  this  way  recovered  twenty-one  miles  of  water 
front,  which  is  now  yielding  her  annually  millions 
of  dollars  revenue." 

Mr.  Bolton  conferred  with  Honorable  Tom 
L.  Johnson,  not  then  elected  mayor,  and  urged 
an  injunction  restraining  the  officials  from  making 
any  agreement  with  the  railroads  with  regard  to 
the  lake  front.  The  case  was  then  put  into 
the  hands  of  General  Edward  S.  Meyer  as  coun- 
sel for  the  city,  and  was  carried  to  the  higher 
courts. 

In  the  spring  of  1900  Mr.  Bolton  was  again  a 

candidate  for  the  Congressional  nomination.     He 

outlined  in  the  items  of  his  policy  the  owning  by 

Cleveland  of  its  entire  water  front,  and  also  the 

[90] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

production  of  beet  sugar  in  America,  on  which 
subject  he  had  gathered  much  information.  He 
said  :  "  Last  year  over  fifteen  million  tons  of  iron 
ores  passed  south  through  the  harbors  of  North- 
ern Ohio,  enriching  the  citizens  of  the  Mahoning 
Valley  and  Western  Pennsylvania.  If  one  half 
of  this  enormous  tonnage  of  ores  could  be  con- 
verted into  iron  and  steel  products,  with  a  wage 
account  of  ten  dollars  per  ton  included,  in 
Cuyahoga  County,  our  pay-rolls  would  be  in- 
creased fifty  million  dollars  annually.  It  is  the 
magic  pay-roll,  chiefly,  that  builds  a  great  city. 
This  vast  increase  of  pay-roll  by  fifty  million 
dollars  would  add  half  a  million  people  to  Cleve- 
land and  double  her  tax  dupUcate.  ...  If  the 
leading  countries  of  Europe  raise  beet  sugar  for 
their  own  needs,  and  largely  for  export,  why 
cannot  Americans  raise  their  own  sugar,  and  so 
save  annually  fifty  million  dollars,  which  the 
American  people  are  now  paying,  mostly  to 
foreign  farmers  ? " 

Mr.  Bolton's  commendations  were  of  the  best. 
President  McKinley  had  said :  "  Mr.  Bolton  is  a 
[91] 


CHARLES    E.    BOLTON 

gentleman  of  learning  and  culture,  and  has  had 
years  of  experience  at  the  head  of  large  manu- 
facturing interests."  Honorable  J.  B.  Foraker 
spoke  of  his  "  good  character,  fine  abilities,  large 
experience  from  extended  travel  abroad,  and  that 
he  is  an  active,  zealous  working  Republican." 
Honorable  John  Sherman  had  called  him  "a 
citizen  of  high  character,"  and  Ex-President 
Hayes,  "  a  gentleman  of  fine  accomplishments." 
There  were  several  aspirants  for  Congress. 
After  a  most  vigorous  and  exciting  campaign,  the 
Congressional  Convention  was  held  May  lo, 
1900.  Mr.  Bolton  received  fifty-two  votes  on 
the  first  ballot ;  ninety-seven  being  necessary  to  a 
choice.  Two  of  the  aspirants,  bitterly  opposing 
each  other,  withdrew  from  the  contest,  over  their 
own  signatures  in  the  newspapers.  One  of  these, 
Honorable  James  R.  Garfield,  the  son  of  the 
former  President,  kept  his  pledge  and  refused  to 
allow  his  name  to  be  used  before  the  convention  ; 
the  other  did  not,  and  received  the  nomination. 
There  was  no  question  among  the  people  as  to 
Mr.  Bolton's   fitness  for  the  position,    but   the 

[92] 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

ways  of  politics  are  such  that  the  best  men  are 
not  always  chosen. 

Crowded  as  were  his  hours,  Mr.  Bolton  found 
time  to  give  comforts  to  a  sick  and  friendless 
soldier,  just  returned  from  the  Philippines,  paid 
his  board  unaided  for  months,  clothed  him,  and 
finally  obtained  a  temporary  place  for  him  at 
one  of  the  national  homes  for  soldiers ;  he  is 
now  earning  a  good  salary.  And  this  was  only 
one  case  out  of  many,  in  which  the  poor  found 
in  him  a  helper  both  with  money  and  counsel. 
He  secured  very  many  situations  for  young  men 
who  had  tried  for  themselves  until  well  nigh  dis- 
couraged. He  often  bought  a  book  of  a  can- 
vasser, not  forgetting  the  college  days,  when  he 
earned  money  in  the  same  difficult  way.  He, 
with  two  others,  promised  to  send  a  boy  through 
Amherst  College.  When  the  lad  was  ready,  the 
other  givers  were  not,  and  Mr.  Bolton  bore  the 
expense  alone. 

He  took  little  time  for  rest.  "  Ceaseless  as 
the  sea,"  his  friends  said  of  him.  In  July,  1899, 
he  and  his  wife  went  East  to  see  their  son  and  his 

[93] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

wife  and  child,  at  Shirley,  Massachusetts,  where 
the  son  afterward  bought  ninety  acres  for  a 
summer  home,  in  the  town  in  which  the  Bolton 
ancestors  settled  one  hundred  and  thirty  years 
before.  Mr.  Bolton  helped  in  the  search  for  a 
large  boulder  in  the  forest,  and  gave  liberally 
toward  the  expense  of  having  it  brought  to  the 
graveyard  where  it  now  bears  a  bronze  tablet  to 
commemorate  the  service  of  those  who  went  to 
the  Revolutionary  War  from  the  town.  Among 
the  names  on  a  second  tablet  prepared  at  the 
same  time  are  those  of  Mr.  Bolton*s  great-grand- 
father, Timothy,  and  two  or  more  of  his  great- 
uncles. 

His  little  grandson,  Stanwood  Knowles  Bolton, 
gave  him  much  pleasure,  and  the  affection  seemed 
mutual.  Mr.  H.  A.  Pevear  invited  the  families 
to  drive  through  all  the  adjacent  charming 
country,  and  these  few  quiet  days  in  a  life  full 
of  activity  formed  a  pleasant  memory. 

During  the  remaining  months  of  Mr.  Bolton's 
life  he  was  very  busy  with  his  work  as  mayor, 
preparing  an  admirable  report,  with  other  matter, 
[94] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

artistically  printed  and  illustrated,  in  a  pamphlet 
of  one  hundred  pages ;  with  his  transactions  in 
land ;  his  large  correspondence ;  and  finally  two 
books,  a  novel  bearing  on  the  question  of 
capital  and  labor,  "The  Harris-Ingram  Experi- 
ment," and  a  volume  of  essays,  "  A  Model  Vil- 
lage and  other  Papers."  The  novel,  he  says  in 
the  preface,  was  for  the  most  part  "  written  while 
waiting  at  stations  or  on  the  cars,  and  in  hotels, 
using  the  spare  moments  of  an  eight  months'  lec- 
ture season,  and  four  months  at  home  occupied  by 
business."  "  Travels  in  Europe  and  America " 
was  only  partially  completed,  and  was  published 
in  1903  after  his  death.  The  novel  was  pub- 
lished in  1905.  Mr.  Bolton  had  always  written 
much  for  the  press,  sending  letters  while  abroad 
to  the  Chicago  Tribune^  the  Springfield  Republi- 
can^ the  Boston  Congregationalist^  the  Cleveland 
Leader^  and  later  preparing  a  series  of  articles  for 
the  St.  Nicholas  Magazine  on  "  How  Fine  Papers 
are  Manufactured,"  "  How  Stones  Grew  into 
Flour  Mills,"  "  Fire  Places  and  Fuel  and  Light," 
"  From  Palanquin  to  Palace  Car,"  "  Cross-bow  to 
[95] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

One  Hundred  Ton  Guns,"  "  How  Sticks  Grew 
into  Plows,"  etc. 

"The  Model  Village  of  Homes,"  the  first 
essay  in  the  book  of  the  same  name,  was  pub- 
lished in  the  American  Monthly  Review  of  Re- 
views, for  November,  1899.  It  was,  said  the 
Cleveland  Leader, "  what  he  wanted  the  world  to 
understand  about  the  village  he  ruled  and  loved. 
.  .  .  Mr.  Bolton  delighted  to  have  it  known  how 
the  village  of  East  Cleveland  came  to  be  the 
*  model  village  of  homes,*  as  he  called  it.  From 
East  Cleveland  he  turns  his  readers  to  an  English 
half-holiday,  spent  at  one  of  the  famous  mechani- 
cal and  engineering  works  of  England,  and  then  to 
a  coaching  trip  through  scenes  of  famous  English 
history.  Coffee  houses  in  Great  Britain,  the  Sun- 
day School  Centenary  at  London,  a  Fete-day  in 
Paris,  the  Chicago  World's  Fair,  Spanish  Rule  in 
Cuba,  a  College  Vacation  at  the  Front  during  the 
Civil  War,  How  Fine  Paper  is  made.  Entertain- 
ments for  the  People,  and  the  Flags  of  the  Nations 
and  Glances  at  their  Histories  —  these  subjects  all 
interested  him  and  he  described  them  in  his  book. 

[96] 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

"  Mr.  Bolton  saw  beauty  and  interest  where 
others  might  see  only  the  commonplace,  and 
even  the  commonplace  was  to  him  made  bright 
with  the  interest  of  a  big,  strong  heart  that 
loved  the  world." 

Mr.  Bolton  lived  long  enough  to  see  but  a 
single  copy  of  his  book  when  he  was  near 
death. 

The  press  gave  commendation  to  the  book. 
The  Literary  World  said:  "  Mr.  Bolton,  the  cul- 
tivated and  genial  author,  observed  with  sym- 
pathy and  wrote  with  facility."  The  New  York 
Times  called  him  "an  intelligent  observer,  a 
wholesome  thinker,  and  a  right-minded  citizen." 
Another  New  York  paper  said :  "  Mr.  Bolton 
wrote  in  a  straightforward,  direct  manner,  that 
always  connotes  something  to  say,  and  consumes 
but  little  space  in  saying  it."  The  late  Judge 
Henry  C.  White,  of  the  Probate  Court,  Cleve- 
land, wrote :  "  I  have  gained  great  profit,  and 
in  a  measure  attempted  to  honor  the  memory 
of  my  late  friend,  by  reading  every  word  of  it. 
I   shall   always  treasure   the  book  as  a  valuable 

7  [97] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

memorial  of  a  long  and  pleasant  acquaintance  with 
the  author.  For  breadth  and  diversity  of  accurate 
knowledge,  and  for  vigor  and  beauty  of  literary 
expression,  I  esteem  the  book  as  a  gem." 

Professor  David  P.  Todd  wrote  from  the 
Observatory  House  at  Amherst:  "  I  have  taken 
great  pleasure  in  reading  the  delightfully  written 
essays  of  Mr.  Bolton's  'A  Model  Village,'  and 
they  have  made  me  regret  coming  into  Am- 
herst scenes  so  late  (my  class  followed  his  by 
just  ten  years)  that  I  missed  the  pleasure  of 
knowing  him  personally.  .  .  .  Five  years  ago 
I  founded  a  little  library  in  a  town  in  Northern 
Japan,  since  become  quite  large,  and  I  am  send- 
ing to  it  occasional  parcels  of  books.  It  has 
seemed  to  me  that  this  collection  of  essays 
would  be  highly  appreciated  in  that  far  country 
which  is  now  devoting  itself  very  concernedly 
to  matters  English." 

Mr.    Bolton    would    have    been    gratified    to 

know  that  his  book  was  among  those  suggested 

by   the    Boston    Public   Library   for   reading   in 

connection  with  the  Free  Public  Lectures  of  the 

[98] 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

Lowell  Institute,  Boston,  given  by  distinguished 
men  during  the  spring  of  1902.  This  work, 
made  possible  by  the  fund  left  by  John  Lowell, 
Jr.,  was  greatly  admired  and  honored  by  Mr. 
Bolton,  who  always  longed  for  something  of 
the  same  kind  in  Cleveland. 

Mr.  Bolton  was  asked  to  join  many  societies, 
the  American  Social  Science  Association,  the 
American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Sci- 
ence, Sons  of  the  American  Revolution,  the 
American  League  for  Civic  Improvement,  sev- 
eral reform  societies,  and  the  like.  His  last 
public  address  was  given  before  the  American 
League  for  Civic  Improvement  in  Buffalo,  Au- 
gust 13,  1901,  at  the  time  of  the  Pan-American 
Exposition.^  He  had  taken  his  wife  with  him. 
They  walked  in  the  beautifully  laid  out  grounds, 
stood  in  the  Temple  of  Music  where  President 
McKinley  was  shot  so  soon  afterwards,  and  saw 
the  wonderful  electric  lights  at  night,  making 
the  place  seem  like  fairyland. 

1  See  page  50  of  "The  Twentieth  Century  City,"  this  being 
the  special  title  of  The  Home  Florist  for  October,    1901. 

[99] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

Going  East  to  see  her  son  and  his  family  for 
a  short  time,  Mrs.  Bolton  returned  to  Cleveland 
on  September  15th,  and  found  her  husband  not 
feeling  in  quite  his  usual  health.  He  was  tired, 
but  kept  at  business  for  another  week,  when 
she  urged  that  he  stay  at  home  and  rest  for 
a  few  days.  He  lay  on  the  sofa  and  chatted 
with  his  friends  with  all  his  wonted  cheer  and 
hope. 

About  the  first  of  October,  with  excessive 
headache,  he  gained  better  rest  in  bed.  He 
longed  to  see  the  coloring  leaves,  but  the  light 
seemed  painful  to  his  eyes.  He  often  said, 
"  Oh,  this  weariness ! "  October  9th  a  specialist 
was  called  to  aid  the  doctors,  but  he  could 
see  no  disease ;  he  said  that  Mr.  Bolton  had 
overworked.  On  the  wall  hung  a  picture  which 
had  just  been  prepared  by  Mr.  Bolton,  of 
his  grandfather,  father,  and  uncles  and  aunts, 
whose  united  ages  were  eight  hundred  and 
one  years,  average  eighty  years,  with  several 
still  living.  To  this  Mr.  Bolton  called  the 
doctors'  attention  as  they  talked  of  genealogy ; 
[100] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

there  seemed  every  probability  that  one  so  vig- 
orous and  cheerful  would  live  to  old  age,  like 
his  ancestors. 

Three  days  later,  on  Saturday,  October  I2th, 
at  sunset,  Mr.  Bolton's  right  side  became  par- 
tially paralyzed,  and  on  the  following  Tuesday 
at  noon,  when  asleep,  the  second  stroke  came. 
On  Wednesday  he  said  to  his  wife,  "  I  shall  not 
be  here  to-morrow,"  but  he  was  kept  alive  sev- 
eral days.  When  his  son  and  wife  and  their 
younger  child,  Geoffrey  (two  months  old),  came 
on  Thursday,  and  the  baby  was  laid  in  his 
arms,  he  smiled,  and  drew  his  left  arm  about  it, 
saying,  "  Big  boy."  During  his  brief  illness  he 
thought  of  everybody  but  himself;  asked  that 
lemonade  be  taken  to  the  workmen  who  were 
paving  Knowles  Street  near  his  house ;  hoped 
that  the  trained  nurse  had  a  good  bed,  and  that 
others  who  were  assisting  had  every  comfort. 
Toward  the  last  he  said  to  his  wife,  not  forget- 
ting the  struggle  up  to  success :  "  I  Ve  done 
the  best  I  could  for  you."  On  Wednesday 
morning,  October  23rd,  just  as  the  daylight 
[loi] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

came,  when  his  dear  ones  watched  beside  him, 
Mr.  Bolton  ceased  to  breathe. 

The  death  was  a  shock  to  his  friends  and  to 
the  whole  city.  So  many  plans  for  the  future 
never  to  be  carried  out;  so  much  work  never 
to  be  finished;  a  mind  so  well  prepared  in  a 
strong,  fine  body :  helpless  in  the  silence  of 
death  ! 

At  the  funeral  on  Friday,  October  25th,  his 
pastor,  the  Rev.  Charles  L.  Zorbaugh,  D.  D., 
read  from  the  Bible ;  "  Lead,  Kindly  Light," 
and  "  Abide  with  me,"  were  sung ;  and  his 
former  pastor,  the  late  Rev.  Henry  M.  Ladd, 
D.D.,  spoke  of  Mr.  Bolton.  "  It  does  not 
seem  possible,"  he  said,  "  that  we  shall  never  hear 
that  voice  again  in  hearty  greeting,  nor  feel  his 
cordial  handshake.  It  is  many  years  since  I  first 
knew  him,  and  in  that  time  I  have  grown  to  love 
and  honor  him.  He  was  a  man  of  strong  per- 
sonality. He  loved  nature,  and  even  the  flowers 
seemed  to  lift  their  heads  and  smile  to  him. 
The  birds  sang  more  sweetly,  and  the  mountains 
and  valleys  and  even  the  boulders  spoke  to  him. 
[102] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

He  loved  nature  in  every  form.  I  have  often 
heard  him  speak  of  the  beautiful  sunsets  seen 
from  his  home.  To  have  so  loved  nature  he 
must  have  had  a  generous  nature.  He  loved 
humanity,  and  little  children  were  not  afraid 
to  talk  with  him.  He  loved  the  lowly,  the 
needy,  and  the  wage-worker.  Those  who 
labored  with  their  hands  were  among  his  best 
friends  and  admirers. 

"In  his  latter  days  he  had  an  absorbing  de- 
sire to  see  this  village  become  a  model  town. 
This  village  will  become  a  monument  to  his  far- 
sightedness ;  and  his  manly  character  and  noble 
life  will  leave  an  impression  in  the  village  long 
after  he  is  gone." 

He  lies  buried  in  Lake  View  Cemetery  east  of 
the  Garfield  Monument,  under  a  great  maple 
tree,  looking  over  to  the  busy  city  that  he  loved, 
and  to  blue  Lake  Erie  beyond.  He  cannot 
watch  the  red  sun  dip  in  the  water  at  sunset  as 
he  used  to  do  at  his  home,  but  the  robins  will 
sing  above  him,  and  perchance  keep  him  company 
in  the  branches  in  the  summer  nights.  The 
[103] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

winter  snows  seemed  harsh  to  him,  for  he  loved 
the  sunshine,  but  he  will  not  feel  them.  The 
grass  will  grow  green  above  him,  and  the  flowers 
will  shed  their  fragrance.  And  by  and  by  his 
loved  ones  will  lie  beside   him. 

The  newspapers  in  various  parts  of  the  country 
spoke  highly  of  Mr.  Bolton.  Said  the  Cleveland 
Leader :  "  There  were  tears  in  the  eyes  of  many 
persons  as  they  gazed  on  the  features  of  Mr.  C. 
E.  Bolton  whose  remains  were  carried  to  the 
grave  yesterday,  from  his  late  beautiful  home  on 
Windermere  Terrace.  Floral  tributes  from  friends 
in  this  city  and  out  of  town  almost  covered  the 
casket  and  filled  the  room.  .  .  .  He  was  a  man 
of  untiring  energy,  very  cheerful  and  optimistic, 
solicitous  for  others  and  often  forgetful  of  self, 
giving  liberally  and  without  ostentation  to  the 
poor.  He  was  a  great  friend  of  the  young  men, 
assisting  many  worthy,  both  financially  and  by  his 
influence.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  of  Cleve- 
land. A  man  of  fine  appearance  and  bearing, 
and  agreeable  presence,  he  won  friends  every- 
[104] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

where,  both  in  this  country  and  abroad.  .  .  . 
He  was  one  of  the  best-known  men  in  North- 
ern Ohio,  a  man  of  the  highest  personal  character 
and  worth." 

The  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer  said :  "  Mr.  Bol- 
ton had  been  interested  in  everything  pertaining 
to  the  good  of  Cleveland.  ...  In  the  panic  of 
1873  he  lost  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars,  and  instead  of  going  into  bankruptcy 
spent  nearly  twenty  of  the  best  years  of  his  life 
in  paying  his  creditors.  In  spite  of  the  over- 
whelming reverses  of  1873,  Mr.  Bolton  had,  with 
untiring  energy  and  unusual  business  acumen, 
acquired  a  competency  and  had  the  good  will  and 
esteem  of  all  who  knew  him.  Overwork  and 
constant  mental  activity  contributed  largely  to  his 
death  at  the  very  height  of  his  usefulness  and 


success.*' 


The  New  York  Journal  said :  "Mr.  Bolton  was 
an  eminent  scholar,  lecturer,  author,  and  student 
of  municipal  problems." 

The  East  Cleveland  Signal  said :  "His  was  a 
life  of  usefulness  in  every  sense  of  the  word.     No 

[105] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

man  ever  lived  that  did  as  much  or  spent  as 
much  time  for  a  village  as  did  Mr.  C.  E. 
Bolton  for  the  village  of  East  Cleveland  and 
no  one  has  passed  away  who  will  be  missed 
by  all,  both  old  and  young,  as  he.  His  funeral 
was  one  of  the  largest  ever  held  in  East  Cleve- 
land.*' 

The  Boston  Daily  Globe  said :  "In  the  death 
of  Charles  Edward  Bolton  to-day  Northern 
Ohio  loses  one  of  its  foremost  citizens,  a  lec- 
turer, author,  student  of  economic  problems, 
traveller,  and  wealthy  business  man." 

The  East  Cleveland  Council  passed  the  follow- 
ing resolutions  offered  by  Mr.  Harry  Gordon, 
for  several  years  his  associate  in  business :  — 

^^  Whereas,  Charles  E.  Bolton  was  an  honored 
and  influential  citizen,  and  for  two  years  mayor 
of  the  village  of  East  Cleveland,  representing 
it  with  marked  fidelity  and  unswerving  attention 
to  duty,  ever  prompt  in  his  attendance,  and 
ever  vigilant  in  his  watchfulness  of  the  village's 
interests ;  and 

^^  Whereas,  Death  came  to  him  in  the  midst 
[io6] 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

of  his  work  and  in  the  full  vigor  of  his  man- 
hood; therefore,  be  it 

^^  Resolved y  That  the  Council  pay  to  his 
memory  the  tribute  of  respect  due  him  by 
the  adoption  of  this  memorial,  and  that  the 
same  be  entered  on  the  minutes  of  the  Coun- 
cil and  an  engrossed  copy  transmitted  to  the 
family/' 

The  Tippecanoe  Club  of  Cleveland  passed  the 
following  Memorial  Resolutions  :  — 

"  Whereas^  We  are  again  called  upon  to 
mourn  the  loss  by  death  of  a  member  of  this 
Club  in  a  man  of  wide  culture  and  varied  at- 
tainments, therefore,  be  it 

^^  Resolved,  That  in  the  death  of  Mr.  Charles 
E.  Bolton,  this  Club  has  lost  a  member  of  in- 
fluence and  personal  worth ;  that  his  life  of 
earnest,  honorable  endeavor,  his  interest  in  the 
public  weal,  and  his  integrity  in  private  life  are 
worthy  to  be  emulated  by  us  all; 

^^  Resolved,  That  we  extend  to  his  family  our 
most  sincere  sympathy  and  regard ;  and  be  it 
further 

[107] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

^^  Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  made  a 
part  of  the  records  of  this  meeting. 

"W.    R.    COATES, 

"Chas.  W.  Chase, 
"  Harvey  R.  Keeler, 

"  Committee'* 
Mr.  Bolton  was  a  man  of  unusual  energy, 
perseverance,  and  skill  in  the  management  of 
affairs.  He  was  self-reliant,  believing  as  Em- 
erson wrote :  "  The  man  that  stands  by  him- 
self the  universe  will  stand  by  him  also."  He 
had  great  persuasive  powers,  strong  personal 
magnetism,  and  was  a  remarkable  conversation- 
alist, being  well  read  upon  almost  every  sub- 
ject. Language  impure  or  coarse  was  never 
allowed  in  his  presence.  He  had  the  utmost 
system,  and  gave  close  attention  to  detail, 
either  in  business  or  writing,  so  that  mistakes 
were  rarely  made.  He  used  to  say  he  could 
not  work  at  his  desk  unless  all  was  clean 
and  in  order.  He  daily  ruled  an  ordinary 
business  card  into  three  columns,  and  wrote 
with  a  very  sharp-pointed  pencil  a  list  of 
[io8] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

things  to  be  done,  calling  it  "his  chart**;  he 
was  never  satisfied  unless  all  the  items  had  been 
attended  to. 

He  was  conscientious  in  a  marked  degree, 
loyal  to  principle,  courageous  to  meet  danger 
or  obstacles,  very  manly,  and  honest  with  a 
self-sacrifice  that  took  many  of  the  best  years 
of  his  life.  An  ardent  lover  of  art,  and  sci- 
ence, and  nature,  he  rejoiced  in  the  sunshine, 
and  gave  cheer  to  thousands  by  his  own  sunny 
temperament.  Broad-minded  and  versatile,  he 
was  willing  to  interest  a  child  in  the  structure 
of  a  flower,  or  to  carry  a  baby  in  his  arms 
when  it  cried  on  the  steam  cars,  to  help  some 
tired  and  overworked  mother,  or  to  talk  with 
an  expert  about  the  making  of  steel,  or  building 
bridges  or  docks  or  ships,  the  wonders  of  elec- 
tricity, or  the  great  matters  of  government  and 
the  future  of  the  nation. 

Tall,  erect,  and  well-proportioned  in  body,  with 

distinguished    bearing,    naturally    a   leader,    Mr. 

Bolton  was  a  marked  man  in  any  circle.     With 

clear  complexion,  dark,  curly  hair,  pleasant  gray 

[109] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

eyes,  and  a  smile  that  illumined  his  face,  he 
retained  and  even  increased  the  good  looks  of 
his  young  manhood.  Social  by  nature,  though 
domestic  in  his  tastes,  he  enjoyed  meeting  people 
and  entertaining  them.  Genuinely  interested  in 
others,  he  made  friends  easily  and  kept  them. 
He  had  keen  insight  into  character,  and  was 
rarely  deceived  either  in  persons  or  business. 
Enthusiastic  and  sympathetic,  his  eyes  often 
filled  with  tears  at  the  recital  of  wrong  or  suffer- 
ing, or  some  heroic  act.  He  was  quick  to  ask 
forgiveness  if  he  had  hurt  the  feelings  of  an- 
other, and  was  ready  to  forgive.  He  was  very 
cordial  and  sincere,  with  a  kind  word  for  every- 
body. He  loved  life  and  its  countless  activi- 
ties, for  which  his  strong  body,  able  mind,  and 
warm  heart  fitted  him,  and  toward  the  last, 
when  asked  by  his  physician  if  he  wished  for 
anything,  replied,  "  If  you  could  only  give  me 
health!" 

He  kept  over  his  writing  desk :  —  "I  expect 
to  pass  this  way  but  once ;  if,  therefore,  there  be 
any  kindness  I  can  show,  or  any  good  thing  I 
[no] 


CHARLES   E.   BOLTON,   M.  A. 
Taken   when   Mayor  of  East  Cleveland,    1S99-1901 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

can  do  to  my  fellow  human  beings,  let  me  do 
it  now,  let  me  not  defer  or  neglect  it,  for  I  shall 
not  pass  this  way  again." 

"It  is  whatjy^^  do  and  not  what  is  done  for 
you  that  develops  character.'* 

Also  these  last  words  of  Tennyson's  "  In 
Memoriam  " :  — 

*<  One  God,  one  law,  one  element. 
And  one  far-off  divine  event 
To  which  the  whole  creation  moves.'* 

Refined  and  courteous,  he  was  always  the  gen- 
tleman, equally  at  ease  with  the  highest  and  the 
most  humble.  With  a  dignity  of  manner  which 
forbade  familiarity,  he  was  yet  gracious,  and  ap- 
proachable from  his  thorough  goodness  of  heart ; 
responsive  to  kindness  and  appreciation ;  a  lover 
of  home  and  kindred ;  and  with  all  his  strength 
of  character  so  gentle  in  feeling  that  he  would 
help  his  wife  to  take  a  frightened  little  mouse 
from  the  cats,  and  carry  it  into  the  fields  to  a 
place  of  safety. 

A  poem,  "  Hearing  Ears,"  by  the  Reverend 
William  J.  Gray,  was  found  among  his  papers:  — 
[III] 


CHARLES   E.  BOLTON 

'*  The  protest  of  the  bruised  reed. 

Or  trampled  worm's  appealing. 
Ne'er  finds  response  to  finest  need 

Where  ears  lack  finest  feeling. 

**  Alas,  too  oft,  e'en  human  hearts 

Lie  helpless,  torn,  and  bleeding ; 
Vain  falls  their  cry  midst  noise  of  marts 

While  crowds  pass  by  unheeding. 

"  One  lesson  taught  to  mind  and  heart 

Abides  for  all  to  know  it. 
Fine  hearing  is  the  finest  art 

In  people,  priest,  and  poet.'* 

In  the  preface  of  his  book,  "  A  Model  Village," 
was  this  sentence :  "  Could  I  have  choice  of  my 
last  word,  I  would  place  Helpfulness  upon  the 
archway  of  the  sky  in  golden  letters  large  enough 
to  reach  from  the  rising  to  the  setting  sun.''  And 
this  was  in  fact  his  last  word. 


[112] 


APPENDIX 

After  Mr.  Bolton's  death  his  wife  received  a 
large  number  of  letters  offering  sympathy  and 
appreciation  of  his  life  and  work.  Rev.  Dr. 
Hiram  C.  Haydn  wrote:  "Your  husband  will 
be  greatly  missed.  He  has  stood  for  so  much 
that  is  vital  to  good  citizenship  and  been  so 
aggressively  active,  his  loss  will  be  great  to  all 
the  community  —  to  you  how  much  more." 

President  Charles  F.  Thwing,  of  Western  Re- 
serve University,  wrote :  "  I  was  very  fond  of 
your  husband.  One's  heart  went  out  toward 
him,  as  his  heart  seemed  to  go  out  toward  every 
one  and  toward  all  that  was  good.  Vigor  and 
power  without  hardness,  and  sweetness  and 
gentleness  without  weakness,  belonged  to  him." 

Dr.  William  Hayes  Ward,  editor  of  the  New 
York  Independent^  wrote :  "  Your  husband  was 
one  of  the  choicest  of  men,  and  I  have  been  proud 
that  he  was  one  of  the  sons  of  my  own  Alma 
Mater.  He  did  a  great  work  for  Cleveland. 
Few  men  have  shown  so  much  public  spirit.     I 

8  [113] 


CHARLES   E.   BOLTON 

have  a  delightful  memory  of  one  evening  spent  at 
one  of  those  great  entertainments  which  he  pro- 
vided for  the  people,  when  the  huge  hall  was 
crowded  with  listeners.  I  do  not  remember 
what  the  entertainment  was  —  lecture  or  music — 
but  what  impressed  me  was  the  superb  service 
done  for  popular  culture  by  Mr.  Bolton." 

Richard  Watson  Gilder  wrote :  "  I  was  greatly 
shocked  at  the  death  of  your  husband.  It  must 
have  been  sudden  indeed.  My  memory  of  him 
is  of  a  strong,  handsome,  kindly  personality.  I 
deeply  sympathize  with  you  in  this  great  loss." 

Professor  Charles  Zueblin,  of  Chicago  Univer- 
sity, wrote  :  "  His  death  is  a  loss  to  Cleveland  and 
the  country." 

Many  letters  came  from  Amherst  classmates. 
Mr.  John  C.  Hammond,  a  lawyer  of  Northamp- 
ton, Massachusetts,  wrote :  "  I  read  with  a 
deep  sense  of  personal  bereavement  and  loss  the 
announcement  that  my  dear  classmate  is  dead.  I 
was  very  sorry  that  he  missed  our  last  reunion. 
But  I  had  no  thought  that  there  were  no  more 
reunions  with  him  this  side  the  other  shore." 

Rev.  V.  M.  Hardy,  D.D.,ofFoxcroft,  Massa- 
chusetts, wrote :  "  The  days  I  spent  with  him 
in  Cleveland  in  early  September  were  among  the 

[114] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

pleasantest  days  in  all  my  recent  years.  He  took 
hold  of  me  with  such  a  strength  of  sympathy  and 
confidence.  We  gave  and  took  of  the  experi- 
ences of  so  many  years  of  life.  We  found  so  much 
in  common  and  in  the  uncommon  to  think  over 
and  talk  upon,  that  the  three  days  were  crowded 
with  the  very  best  of  life's  treasures.  I  said  good- 
bye in  the  hope  of  continued  acquaintance  and 
longings  for  other  communings  like  this,  and 
now,  I  shall  see  him  no  more.  My  heart  sobs 
over  it." 

The  Treasurer  of  Amherst  College,  J.  W. 
Fairbanks,  Ph.  D.,  wrote  that  the  college  would 
"  be  very  glad  to  receive  and  make  a  proper  dis- 
play of  the  flags  of  various  nations  collected  by 
Mr.  Bolton.  Personally  I  should  highly  value 
such  a  gift  to  the  college.  I  knew  Mr.  Bolton 
intimately  in  Williston  Seminary,  and  we  roomed 
on  opposite  sides  of  the  same  corridor  in  South 
Hall.  I  also  knew  him  intimately  for  three  years 
in  college.  It  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  say  that 
he  was  highly  esteemed  by  me  both  as  a  gentle- 
man and  a  friend." 

Large  flags  gathered  by  Mr.  Bolton  abroad, 
from  England,  France,  Norway,  Sweden,  Russia, 
Italy,  Holland,  Switzerland,  Belgium,  Denmark, 

[115] 


CHARLES   E.   BOLTON 

Germany,  Turkey,  Austria,  with  United  States 
flags,  were  given  to  Amherst  College  after  his 
death,  to  be  draped  in  his  memory,  knowing  that 
he  would  prefer  his  Alma  Mater  to  have  them. 
Ten  boxes  of  his  collection  of  minerals  were 
given  to  Oberlin  College.  His  well-selected 
library  and  collection  of  pottery  from  many 
countries  were  left  to  his  son. 

A  lawyer  from  Milwaukee  who  had  known 
Mr.  Bolton  all  his  married  life,  wrote  :  "He  was 
such  a  kindly,  genial.  Christian  gentleman,  such 
a  sincere  friend,  such  a  model  husband,  father 
and  citizen,  that  his  loss  must  have  sent  a  thrill 
of  sorrow  to  a  multitude  of  loving  hearts,  and 
the  keenest  of  all  to  yours.  He  was  always  so 
full  of  life,  of  health,  and  of  hope,  that  it  is  hard 
to  realize  he  has  gone.  I  do  not  think  I  ever 
knew  a  more  loving  and  devoted  husband,  or 
one  so  well  fitted  for  the  harmonies  of  domestic 
life.  It  seems  so  sad  for  such  a  man  to  be 
called  away  in  the  prime  of  life,  —  sad  for  those 
who  are  left." 

Two    well-known    Cleveland    lawyers    wrote : 

"  The  public  virtues  of  your  honored  husband 

give  many  people   the  right  to  share  with    you 

the  sorrow   of  this  hour,  and  as   a  young  man 

[ii6] 


A   MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

who  has  been  stimulated  by  his  kindness  and 
encouraged  by  his  almost  boyish  enthusiasm  for 
the  good  and  true  in  all  life's  higher  relations, 
I  beg  to  express  to  you  my  personal  affection 
for  his  memory,  and  my  sympathy  with  your 
deep  affliction."  "  I  shall  always  cherish  his 
remembrance  as  a  man  who  always  sought  to  do 
good  and  to  benefit  mankind,  and  the  world  can 
justly  say  it  has  been  benefited  by  his  life  and 
efforts." 

A  friend  from  Paris,  France,  wrote ;  "  The 
blow  must  indeed  be  a  heavy  one,  for  such  an 
unusually  noble  and  beautiful  character  is  rarely 
met,  and  a  hfe  spent  in  such  companionship  can 
only  be  recalled  with  tenderest  recollections  and 
intense  longings." 

A  well-known  author  wrote  :  "  It  is  not  in 
the  first  great  shock  of  grief  that  the  heart  of 
sorrow  lies.  It  is  when  that  is  left  behind  and 
there  comes  the  readjustment  of  life  to  new  con- 
ditions, the  realization  that  life  must  be  lived  on 
and  lived  out  —  and  far  differently.  The  sting 
is  there  and  no  human  touch  can  remove  it." 

A  dear  friend  wrote  :  "  It  is  a  sacred  sorrow 
that  watches  the  lines  of  suffering  and  care  fade 
away  from  the  noble  brow  of  your  dear  husband 

[117] 


CHARLES   E.    BOLTON 

and  yield  place  to  the  hallowed  calm  which  death 
brings  to  your  beloved.  Many  friends  will 
mourn  and  miss  him.  It  will  be  a  long  time 
before  the  community  will  lose  the  imprint  of  his 
noble  character  and  ceaseless  efforts  for  good." 

The  widow  of  a  former  pastor  wrote:  "A 
great,  good,  and  useful  man  has  been  called  to 
his  reward.  Mr.  Bolton  has  left  you  a  rich 
legacy  in  precious  memories,  as  he  has  to  all  his 
friends.  We  need  such  men  to  bless  and  make 
the  world  better." 

Others  wrote:  "As  I  think  of  Mr.  Bolton's 
useful  life  and  his  honorable  struggle  for  so  long 
to  prevent  his  own  misfortunes  from  carrying 
loss  to  others,  I  am  glad  that  you  have  such  a 
career  to  recall." 

"  We  all  remember  him  as  a  most  devoted 
husband  and  loving  father,  and  I  shall  ever 
teach  my  three  children  to  look  upon  his  face 
as  one  of  the  noblest  types  of  manhood  that  I 
have  ever  met.  He  was  in  every  sense  a  manly 
man,  and  when  that  is  said  I  know  of  no  more 
beautiful  tribute  that  can  be  offered.  No  one 
knew  how  to  appreciate  the  fulness  of  the  last 
words  of  our  beloved  McKinley,  Mr.  Bolton's 
personal  friend,  than  did  your  husband,  and 
[ii8] 


A    MEMORIAL   SKETCH 

none  will  find  greater  consolation  in  '  It  is  God*s 
way,  His  will  be  done/  than  yourself  and  son. 
When  I  stop  and  consider  how  such  as  these, 
two  of  the  noblest  works  of  God,  are  taken, 
and  others  left,  I  cannot  help  but  marvel  at  the 
wisdom  of  such  taking." 

"  It  is  just  two  years  this  month  that  dear  Mr. 
Bolton  began  planning  ways  and  means  for  me 
to  stay  with  my  husband  without  working  as  long 
as  he  should  live.  Such  good  deeds  as  these  are 
treasures  laid  up  in  Heaven  for  him  to  find 
there.  I  can  never  forget  that  wonderful  kind- 
ness, followed  by  many  others." 

"  He  was  one  of  the  very  finest  men  I  have 
met,  in  every  way.  While  he  did  not  live  as 
long  as  falls  to  the  lot  of  many,  you  have  the 
satisfaction  of  knowing  that  he  accomplished 
so  much  for  the  uplifting  and  wellbeing  of 
humanity." 


^   OFTHE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


The  University  Press,  Cambridge,  U.  S.  A. 


(y,  #1^^270  ?©0f/ 


UNIVEESITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY, 
BERKELEY 


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